


Kingdom Hearts III: The Xehanort War

by violethowler



Series: Acolytes of Chaos [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Action/Adventure, Immortality, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Multi, Non Canonical Immortal, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Reincarnation, Suicide By Proxy, Time Loop, Time Travel, canon divergence - post dream drop distance, hence the tags for suicide, not canon compliant - kingdom hearts X, one of the villains is a death seeker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-01-30 17:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 80
Words: 186,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12658365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violethowler/pseuds/violethowler
Summary: It's been six months since Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery Exam, and Xehanort is on the move. Sora and the gang will need to team up with friends both old and new in order to finally bring down the insane Keyblade Master once and for all.





	1. The Key on the Beach

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this on my fanfiction.net account 2 years ago, and since I'm crossposting all my fanfics from that site onto my AO3 account, this is the next one to be re-posted. I tried to keep it as canon-compliant as possible, but I was still writing this story when 2.8 was anounced and the ending of X happaned, so my version of how the Keyblade War occured is completely different than what we've seen so far in canon. Basically, nothing that happened in X, Back Cover, or Unchained X/Union Cross after the first battle against Ava happens in this fic. The same goes for the entirety of 0.2. The only things I really borrowed from X that came out after I started writing were the names of the Foretellers.
> 
> I tried to write this fic like it was a game, so you'll see elements of that in either the fic itself or in my notes.

#### Destiny Islands - Seashore

#### July 5, 2015

 _Man, time flies,_ Sora thought to himself as he walked along the beaches of Destiny Islands.  _It feels like just yesterday when Riku, Kairi, and I were building a raft to explore beyond the islands._ After failing his Mark of Mastery Exam, Sora had spent a few hours in the Realm of Sleep with the Dream Eaters he'd befriended on his travels. He hadn't told anyone, but as much as he felt it was only a formality, failing to prove himself a Keyblade Master had hurt him more than he wanted to admit. It stung to be told that despite everything he'd accomplished, he was not a true Keyblade Master.

After spending some time in the Realm of Sleep, he went back to the Islands to talk to his parents about the test. When he'd returned home after defeating the Organization 2 years ago, he told his parents everything about what he'd been doing for the past year. He'd been expecting them to freak out and forbid him to leave the world on any more adventures. But while they were a little shocked and surprised about everything, they took it all in stride, and were fully supportive of his life as a Keybearer.

Riku, King Mickey, and Master Yen Sid had insisted that he stay on the Islands for a while to rest and recover from having his heart shattered by Xehanort. His parents had done a remarkable job helping him deal with his emotional scaring. (Which, considering his dad was a full time psychiatrist, wasn't really a surprise) The young man truly appreciated the fact that his parents would help him with his problems, even if they didn't fully understand all of them.

Being away from the action had helped him at first, since Xehanort had yet to make his move. But now that Kairi had started training to use her Keyblade, he wanted to get off the island again. While Kairi was far from helpless, she wasn't as experienced at wielding a Keyblade yet as he and Riku were, so Sora was nervous for her. Riku had assured him that she'd be fine, but just the thought of thirteen Xehanorts lying in wait, ready to snatch Kairi and the other six Princesses of Heart at a moment's notice, put the teenager on edge.

His silent reflection was interrupted when he looked down the beach and saw something lying in the sand. Curious, he leapt down from the wooden bridge that stretched out towards the small island where he, Riku, and Kairi spent their evenings. As he walked towards the strange object, he immediately recognized several key features: the long shaft, the guarded hilt, and the teeth. By the time he held the object in his hand he knew exactly what he was looking at: A Keyblade.

 _But whose Keyblade is it?_ He thought to himself as he looked at the ebony blade with a look of curiosity and confusion on his face.  _And how did it get here?_ After a brief glance at the ocean, he turned around and scanned the shoreline for any sign that anyone was here except himself. But no one was there. There were no corridors of darkness. No agents of Xehanort waiting in the shadow of a tree. Just him and a mysterious Keyblade, alone on the beach. "Maybe Master Yen Sid will know more about this," he said aloud as he placed the Keyblade in his boat while he prepared to paddle back to the main island. Riku was supposed to be back from Mysterious Tower tonight, so Sora resolved to get a ride back to the ancient Keyblade Master's home with his best friend.

* * *

#### Realm of Darkness - The Dark Margin

#### July 5, 2015

On the outermost shores of the Realm of Darkness, the blue – haired woman's eyes suddenly snapped open with a look of surprise. Next to her, the man in black noticed her behavior and looked over at her.

"What is it?" the man asked. The two of them had spent a majority of their time in the Realm of Darkness here on this beach. Since the man, who could no longer remember his name, told her about Sora, the young Keyblade Wielder who would eventually free them from this sandy prison, the two had not left this area. They carried on conversations with each other to ensure that the woman's memories would not fade, nor would the man lose what few memories he had left.

After a few minutes of silence, the woman answered.

"Our message has been received," Aqua said. "He'll be coming for us soon."


	2. Tutorial

#### Mysterious Tower - The Tower

#### July 8, 2015

"You're definitely improving," Lea said to the girl standing across from him, Keyblade in hand. He and Kairi had just finished a sparring match to test their progress, and the red-haired young man could tell that both of them had gotten significantly better at wielding their blades. "Thanks," she replied as the two of them walked back inside the tower. She'd been training at Master Yen Sid's tower for the past couple months, and everyone was impressed with how far she'd come in such a short time. Lea wasn't exactly lagging behind either, but he already had years of previous combat training under his belt, so his progress wasn't as significant as Kairi's.

"I'm kind of starting to get bored honestly," he said aloud as they walked up the tower's long spiral staircases. Since he returned from Radiant Garden (he'd gone back to make sure that the newly revived founders of the original Organization XIII were on their best behavior), there had been nothing to do around here besides training with his new Keyblade. "I know Master Yen Sid and the King are working on a plan to counter Xehanort," he continued, "but I wish that we wouldn't be stuck here all the time."

"Tell me about it," Kairi replied. "I get that because I'm a Princess of Heart, I'm a walking target, but that doesn't mean I should be stuck here, afraid to live my life because of what might happened." Merlin and Yen Sid had combined their magical powers to create a protection spell that kept the forces of Darkness away from this tiny world, providing the group with a safe haven from which to plan and regroup for the coming war against Xehanort. Kairi had been staying here since Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery Exam, and she hadn't left since.

She and Riku had explained the Xehanort situation to her parents as best as they could, and her parents made her promise to communicate by letter. Since Riku made weekly trips to Destiny Islands as part of his patrol of the worlds for signs of the New Organization, he had agreed to deliver messages between Kairi and her family. Mysterious Tower quickly became a dull, monotonous place. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy kept her company some of the time, but they had a kingdom to run and were only there a few times a month. Sora hadn't left the Islands since he returned from the Realm of Sleep, and Lea snuck off to Twilight Town every few days to alleviate the boredom. Kairi was stuck here with only the stern and stoic Master Yen Sid for company.

Kairi and Lea's arrival in Yen Sid's study snapped her mind back to the present. Mickey was standing in front of the great sorcerer's empty desk. The king greeted the two as they walked in.

"Hi you two," he said cheerfully as Lea turned around and closed the door. "How was sparring?"

"I'd say we're both improving pretty quickly," the red-head replied as he reached back to scratch the back of his head.

"Well that's good to hear," the King responded before Kairi spoke up.

"I could use some time outside of the tower though," she added as she and Lea sat down in the arc of chairs that had been placed around the sorcerer's desk. "It's boring being cooped up in here all the time."

"I know it's hard training all the time," Mickey replied sympathetically, " but until you're good enough to at least defend yourself against Xehanort…"

"I'm a sitting duck. I know," Kairi finished with an exasperated tone. "I get that but Lea and I could at least go to a world that doesn't have that many Heartless so I can get some fresh air every once in a while."

"You know," the king answered with a grin. "I think something like that might work."

"Thank you," Kairi practically jumped up out of her chair and hugged the mouse. When she realized that Master Yen Sid had entered the room, she blushed and sat back down.

"I'll explain later," Mickey told the wizened Keyblade Master as he moved to sit down at his desk. "Riku should be coming back from Destiny Islands soon."

"Good," Yen Sid replied. "Once Riku gets back, we'll need to talk about what to do next. Xehanort has been scheming long enough. We must strike quickly before he does."

Before the ancient Master could continue, the door to the study opened, and Riku walked in, with Sora right behind him. As Kairi jumped up to greet him, the sorcerer and the king's eyes were immediately drawn to the Keyblade the boy was wielding. King Mickey had never seen it, but Master Yen Sid recognized his former student's weapon all too well.

"Where did get that?" Yen Sid asked the teen, trying hard to keep the shock and surprise out of his voice. He had not seen that blade in over a decade, yet it had not faded from his memory.

"Master Yen Sid," Sora said as he bowed respectfully before placing the blade on the desk. "I came with Riku to ask you about this. I found it on the beach on the Islands, but I have no idea who's Keyblade this is."

"I do," the elderly master replied. "It belonged to my student, Master Eraqus. I have not seen him in over a decade."

"Do you know what happened to him?" the teenage Keybearer asked as he sat in the chair in the center of the arc. After taking a deep breath, Yen Sid answered.

"Xehanort killed him."

"How did it happen?" Sora could barely keep the shock out of his voice as he leaned toward the desk, eager for an explanation. On one side of the semicircle of chairs, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy (who had come in during the had solemn looks on their faces as they recalled that time, only thirteen years ago, when the ancient Order of the Keyblade had been brought to its knees. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy had lived through it, and thus already knew what Yen Sid was about to say. However, Kairi and Lea had not, and Sora and Riku had only been informed of part of the story before the chaos of their Mark of Mastery Exam, so the sorcerer wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page. After a taking a moment to mentally prepare himself, Master Yen Sid began his tale.

"As you know, there have been many Keyblade Masters before you. The tutelage of ancient Keyblade Wielders was a lineage that goes back for millennia. Many years ago, I was a Keyblade Master myself. In those days I trained two apprentices. One of my pupils was Eraqus. The other… was Xehanort himself."

"What?" Sora shouted. Realizing what he'd done, he quickly gave a respectful bow. "I'm sorry for interrupting, Master Yen Sid."

"No harm done," the old wizard replied. "Now as I was saying, Xehanort was not always the despicable man he is today. However as he continued his training, he became obsessed with the Keyblade War, an ancient conflict between Keyblade Wielders that led to the destruction of the world as we know it. I will explain more about this conflict later, as I do not want to bore you by talking too long. Anyway, over the years, Xehanort and Eraqus had each taken on apprentices, though after a near death incident about 17-years ago, Xehanort's pupil Ventus was sent to live with Eraqus and his students. Eventually, Xehanort resurfaced, attempting to bring about a second Keyblade War. During the days that followed, Xehanort manipulated the three young Keyblade Wielders, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, to achieve his own ends. It is because of Xehanort's machinations that they were among the individuals King Mickey wrote to you about a few months ago, who must be led back to our world. Terra was manipulated into becoming a vessel for him to use to extend his life. Eraqus was murdered as part of his manipulation of Terra, and Aqua ended up trapped in the realm of Darkness. Ventus was used as a pawn in a failed attempt to recreate the Keyblade War, and in the end, his heart was cast out from his body."

As Yen Sid finished his tale, he looked around at the faces of the Tower's occupants. Kairi, Riku and Lea looked horrified at the pain and suffering that Xehanort had caused. Mickey, along with Donald and Goofy (who had come in during the story), were solemn and melancholy, having seen the fates of the Keyblade Wielders firsthand. Sora on the other hand, looked like he had seen a ghost. Before he could ask Sora what was wrong, Kairi spoke up.

"From what I heard during the story, the Keyblade War reminds me of the fairy tales my grandmother used to tell me about Kingdom Hearts when I was little," she said. Although, she didn't remember anything else about her life in Radiant Garden before being sent to the Islands by Xehanort, she still remembered her grandmother and those stories.

"A very astute observation, Kairi," Yen Sid replied. "The Keyblade War happened so long ago that the finer details are lost to the ravages of time, and only the general outline of the conflict has survived in the form of myths and legends." With Kairi's question answered, he turned to address the young keybearer whose shock could not be more obvious.

"Sora," the sorcerer began. "You look troubled."  _That's putting it mildly,_ Yen Sid thought to himself with an amused chuckle despite the apparent gravity of the situation.

"I think I know what happened to Ventus' heart," he said after taking a moment to gather his thoughts. This news was a surprise to Yen Sid, but Mickey acted perfectly calm, waiting to see if his suspicions are correct.

"Well," the seventeen-year-old began, "When I was four, I remember this one night that Riku and I were sitting on the beach on the Islands. We were gazing up at the stars when out of nowhere I just started crying. I had no clue why I was crying, but I just felt so sad and I had no idea why. Riku suggested I reach out with my heart, and when I did, I felt this disembodied heart floating in space. It, or I guess he, was hurt, so I offered to let him into my heart so that he could heal. It was so long ago that I forgot about it. But after hearing this story…"

"You think you might have accepted Ventus' heart into your own without realizing it at the time," Mickey finished for him. "I started to suspect as much before Master Yen Sid asked you and Riku to take the Mark of Mastery exam." He and Sora looked around at those assembled to gauge how they'd react to this news. To their surprise, Lea was the only one whose expression remotely resembled shock.

"Not that I'm complaining," Sora began, "but I kind of expected everyone to be more freaked out by this."

"Come on, Sora," Riku replied. "Back when you first got the Keyblade you were carrying Kairi's heart around with you for weeks without even knowing it. You willingly and knowingly harboring the heart of a past Keyblade Wielder isn't that much of a stretch."

"Yeah," Sora chuckled. "I guess you're right. But here's what I'm wondering. It's been thirteen years now…"

"And you wish to help Ventus' heart return to his own body," Yen Sid finished for him with a solem nod. "An admirable goal. However, in order to do so, you'll require the precise location of his body, which only Master Aqua knows. Therefore…" the seemingly stoic sorcerer stiffened with undisguised shock as he felt the ripples of a great disturbance in the universe hit him like the shock-wave of a bomb. A quick glance around the desk confirmed that everyone else in the room sensed it as well.

"Man is this headache a big one," Lea spoke up as he rubbed his forehead. "What was that anyway?" This time, it was not Master Yen Sid who spoke, but Kairi, who was sitting to Sora's left and was currently being comforted in his arms, her face as white as a sheet and tears streaming from her eyes like lava from a volcano.

"It's Xehanort…." She replied with a pained whisper. "He just took one of the other Princesses."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title was a bit of meta humor on my part when I wrote it, since in between these first two chapters is where I imagined the game's tutorial would be.


	3. End of the Beginning

#### The Land of Departure - Library

#### 1940

Many years ago, on a world that is now twisted beyond recognition, two teens sat on the windowsill of a great castle as they battled wits over a game of chess. One, Xehanort, had silver hair, and was playing with the black pieces, while the other, Eraqus, had black hair and played with the white pieces.

"Have you heard of the ancient Keyblade War?" Xehanort asked his opponent.

"Yeah," Eraqus replied. "It's the master's favorite story."

"So," Xehanort continued as he captured one of his fellow apprentice's pieces. "You know the lost masters. They're the ones who started the Keyblade War."

"Never heard of them," the other boy responded as he moved a piece forward.

"You can drop the façade," he retorted. "I know the stories of the Foretellers of the Keyblade Guilds before the war. I'm curious to know. The master only spoke of four factions in his stories of the War, yet the stories of the Lost Masters say there are five. I wonder which is more accurate." Since Xehanort had already chosen the Seeker's path, only Eraqus was privy to the secret knowledge of the Keyblade War. Sensing that his silver-haired companion would not give up asking about the secrets that Master Yen Sid had shared with them, Eraqus spilled the beans.

"Both are," he began. "Centuries ago, in the days before the Keyblade War, there were five Keyblade Guilds, each led by a Foreteller: a Keyblade Master trained by the First Keyblade Wielder to protect the world. The first Keyblade was actually called the X – Blade, and unlike our blades, it was created by Kingdom Hearts iself. All other Keyblades were crafted by men in the X – Blades image and imbued with magic to give them power."

"Really?" his silver haired companion showed a definite interest in the new information he was getting from his fellow apprentice. "That's fascinating."

"It is, isn't it," Eraqus replied before continuing his story. "Anyway, in those days, there was no darkness in the world, as the Master mentioned the story. But it was through the greed of men, each of the Foretellers' desire to wield the X – Blade for themselves, and the infighting and treachery they resorted to in pursuit of that desire that caused the Keyblade War as we know it. The main factions of the war were composed of the Foretellers and their followers in the Keyblade Guilds. Foreteller Anguis and her soldiers were defenders of the light. Leopardos and his minions were seekers of darkness. Ursus and his followers simply sought power. Finally, Unicornis and his allies sought only to reconcile the other guilds."

"But what about the fifth guild," his companion asked, curious to hear more. His companion's insatiable thirst for knowledge would be bound to lead him to trouble someday, but for now, Eraqus saw no harm in humoring his fellow apprentice's curiosity.

"The fifth guild was made up of the Foreteller Vulpeus and her servants, who believed that conflict between Keyblade Wielders was senseless and abstained from the War altogether."

"So I take it the Keyblade hanging over the fireplace once belonged to Vulpeus herself?"It struck Xehanort as an odd choice for a supposedly neutral master to wield a keyblade that suggested alignment with darkness. Not that he minded that at all.

"Actually," Eraqus answered, "legends suggest the existence of a sixth Foreteller. Some believe that he deliberately avoided the infighting of his comrades so he could clean up the wreckage left behind, while others suggest he caused the infighting himself. All the legends agree, however, that the other Foretellers avoided him because they believed him to be part of a prophecy predicting the fall of the light."

"Oh, I've heard of it," Xehanort replied as he gazed at the ornate blade he'd just asked about. "On that land shall darkness prevail and light expire. But you knew that, didn't you? The future has already been written."

"Who's to say I can't change it?" Eraqus, asked as he captured one of his opponent's pieces. "And maybe Light will prevail. There's more to light than meets the eye. You might be surprised."

"I'm counting on it," Xehanort replied as he examined the state of the board.

* * *

#### The World That Never Was - Xehanort's Room

#### July 8, 2015

Dull grey walls greeted the old man's eyes as he woke from his slumber. While the formidable powers of darkness could allow one to go for days without sleep, at some point even the most powerful dark Keyblade Wielders needed to let their bodies rest.  _A pity,_ Master Xehanort thought to himself as he rose from the bed in the highest reaches of the Castle That Never Was.  _Without sleep, the completion of my goals would proceed much more smoothly and briskly._

He and his numerous incarnations had spent the past few months lying in wait, establishing their base while simultaneously searching for the thirteenth and final member of the new Organization. Though they had not been able to find their final Seeker of Darkness, they had successfully retaken the World That Never Was from the dark fairy Maleficent. But what stood out today from the monotony of the past few months was the sudden shift in the universe he sensed as he emerged from his private chambers. He recognized it immediately for what it was: a sign that one of the Princesses of Heart had been captured.

 _We aren't supposed to move until we find my final vessel,_ he fumed inwardly as he quickly dressed in his usual black coat before storming through the halls of the citadel in search of answers. He could always teleport around the castle to find one of his vessels or incarnations who knew, but he preferred to walk around the castle himself as a means of staying in shape. By the time he found one of his original accomplices lounging in the Grey Area, he was fuming.

"I thought our intentions were perfectly clear," he began as he brought his Keyblade up to his vessel's neck. "We do not move against the seven Princesses of Heart until we have obtained my final vessel. So answer me this: which of us has somehow defied me and why?"

"It's simple, old coot," Braig replied with a smirk as he looked up from the book he was currently reading. "Since all of our other targets for being your last vessel either resist or get themselves killed, we've been looking for a suitable candidate. I've spent the last few months researching what little information I could find on the Keyblade War, and I think we've found our ideal vessel."

"You already know it is impossible for one to travel beyond the span of their own life." Xehanort replied, remembering the lecture he'd given to his time – displaced incarnations on the laws of time travel when they'd first arrived in the present. He knew fully well the limitations of the method of temporal displacement he'd chosen. And he was surprised at the mans use of plural. They were only missing one vessel. Why would they need to gather more? His sudden reminiscing ended when Braig responded.

"You see ordinarily, that'd be true," the one eyed man retorted with his usual attitude of snarky mysticism. "Except my research showed me a pretty big loophole in that little limitation. I sent your cookie cutter, bland teenage incarnation off probing the times stream to see if I'm right, which I most likely am. Since he should be back soon, I figured I should send The Gambler off to get a head start on gathering the seven. As for why we're going after more than one vessel, I did a head count of the ones who we have so far, and aside from your time-displaced previous incarnations, we really only recruited eight out of the eleven we need. Just because they were there in the realm of sleep with us doesn't mean we've recruited them yet." No longer enraged, Master Xehanort was now intrigued to see how this development would play out. Satisfied with Braig's answer, though still suspicious of the man's motives, he dismissed his Keyblade with a thought before speaking.

"Very well," he replied. "Though let me clarify that I am to be informed before such actions are taken. Do I make myself clear?"

"As crystal," Braig fired back with his trademark smirk.

"Now tell me," Master Xehanort continued. "What loophole in the laws of time travel has your research uncovered?"

* * *

 

#### Mysterious Tower - Sorcerer's Loft

#### July 8, 2015

Back in the Mysterious Tower, Sora continued to comfort Kairi in his arms as the group discussed their next move.

"It's worse than I feared," Yen Sid began. "I'd hoped to use Xehanorts inaction to buy us some time, but it's too late now. We must find the remaining Princesses and keep them from Xehanort's grasp."

"But we'll need help to go against Xehanort," Riku added. "Some of us should try to find Aqua and free her from the Realm of Darkness so that we'll have an extra ally." Nobody questioned his suggestion. Everyone in the room was fully aware of the gravity of their situation. Any help they could find at this point would be a blessing, and they didn't need to be reminded of what they were up against.

"With these new developments," Yen Sid replied, "I believe we must divide our forces. Sora. Donald. Goofy. You three will find the other five Princesses of Heart and bring them back here." The trio nodded, knowing that the strong protective spells the sorcerer had cast on this world would prevent Xehanort or any of his allies from setting foot on the tower grounds.

"Meanwhile, Mickey and Riku," the sorcerer continued, "will find a way into the Realm of Darkness and free Master Aqua." Mickey smiled at the news, relieved that he would be able to help one of his old friends.  _Aqua won't be hurting any more,_ he thought to himself.

"Yes Master," the five of them replied as all except Sora, who still had Kairi in his arms, stood up and bowed. Although she had now calmed down after the initial shock of sensing the capture of one of her fellow Princesses, Sora could see she was still upset.

"Don't worry, Kairi," he said as he handed her a tissue from Yen Sid's desk. "You'll be alright. You're completely safe here."

"I know," she replied as she wiped the tears off her face. "I'm still sick of being cooped up in here. I know it's dangerous but I want to be able to go out and see the worlds too. I can't stop living my life just because we're afraid of me getting kidnapped."

"Tell you what, Kairi," Riku spoke up from behind them. "When one group gets back, we'll take you wherever you want to go. Is that okay?"

"Alright," she answered in a tone that was both exasperated and appreciative at the same time. "You guys better hurry back." Sora gave Riku a glare that clearly said he wanted to be the one to get back first, which his friend responded to with a knowing smirk.

"We will," replied everyone except Lea, who was staying to help protect the Tower. Before they could leave the tower, Master Yen Sid had one last set of instructions for the group.

"Before you go," he began, "there is one more goal that we must accomplish. Our allies in Radiant Garden have been decoding the data that Ansem the Wise hid within Sora's heart, and they've discovered reference to something called the "Key to Return Hearts." If such a thing exists, it could allow Sora to separate Roxas and Ventus from his heart. I strongly advise you to investigate this Key. See if any worlds have records or legends that would give us more information on where or how it can be found."

"Yes, Master," the five travelers responded with a quick bow before racing down the tower stairs towards their waiting Gummi Ships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is a reference to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 
> 
> Just want to clarify now that there will be a general theme in terms of chapter titles for worlds. With the exception of the Mysterious Tower, the first chapter for each world will be the world's name. If it has a second or third chapter, the second title will be the title of the field theme music, and the third will be the battle theme. Most other chapters will just be based on what happens. The second and third chapters for new Disney worlds will be based on songs I think would work for Field and Battle music.


	4. Enchanted Dominion

#### The Lanes Between - Sora, Donald, and Goofy's Gummi Ship:

#### July 8, 2017

 _I'll be back soon, Kairi,_ Sora thought to himself while he gazed back at the Mysterious Tower as it receded into the distance through the Gummi Ship's cockpit dome. Turning his attention back to the main control panel, he activated the ship's navigation menus, bringing up a map of the known worlds. The menus were a recent upgrade to their Gummi Ship, courtesy of Chip and Dale, that displayed the locations of every world within the ship's vicinity, ensuring that the trio did not have to blindly travel the Lanes Between until they found the world they were looking for.

"Don't worry, Sora," Goofy spoke up from the copilot's seat. "You'll be back with Kairi before you know it." Having known the boy for so long, he, Donald, and Jiminy could practically read Sora like a book. They were perfectly aware that Sora was head over heels in love with the Princess of Heart.

"Don't try to deny it, Sora," Donald added before the boy could protest. "You couldn't be more obvious with your feelings than if you painted "I love you, Kairi" across your face." The anthropomorphic duck and dog chuckled when Sora's face turned as red as Lea's hair.

"Do you guys really have to tease me about it though?" he asked as he input the navigation data Yen Sid had given them for the worlds inhabited by Princesses of Heart that they had not been to yet. A flash of light from the navigation menus distracted him from his embarrassment, and he looked at the menus to find a new world appearing on the holographic display. "Hey guys," he shouted to interrupt the duo's laughter. "According to the navigation menus, one of the Princesses' worlds is nearby."

"Oh, all right," Donald replied with a chuckle as he angled the control yoke in the direction of the nearest World that Sora pointed out on the map. As they approached the world, they each went down to the lower deck to pack their equipment for this world, and to prepare extra bunk beds for the other princesses.  _Gawrsh,_ Goofy thought as he stuffed one last potion into his pocket.  _I just hope we're not too late._

* * *

#### Enchanted Dominion – Bridge

#### July 8, 2015

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked around at the forest that surrounded the bridge before gazing up at the magnificent castle that loomed before them. Sora was curious as to which Princesss lived here. They'd only been to a few of the Princesses' worlds, so this world was most likely the home of either Aurora, Cinderella, or Snow White. When he looked over at Donald, and Goofy, he could tell they'd reached the same conclusion that he had. Goofy finally voiced what they were all thinking.

"So which princess do you think lives here?" he asked aloud.

"Why don't we go to that castle and ask them ourselves?" Sora suggested as he started walking in that direction. He was anxious to find whichever princess lived here and get her back to the Tower as fast as possible. Xehanort was already one step ahead of them, and he was anxious to catch up and take the lead. A quick glance behind him confirmed that Donald and Goofy were following to the castle. They'd been together so long that when they were out in the field that very little communication was required between them to know what each was doing and where they were going.

* * *

When they arrived in what looked like the castle's throne room, the trio couldn't help but stare in awe at the magnificent tapestries hanging from the ceiling. Donald and Goofy continued to gaze in wonder at the fancy decorations, while Sora looked around and realized that they appeared to have walked in on an important meeting of some kind. Men and women dressed in elegant robes and dresses were gathered around a table that had been placed before the throne. A cool breeze from the open door alerted the assembled men and women, who, if Sora were to hazard a guess, were probably lords and ladies of this apparently medieval world, from their meeting, directing all eyes in the room at the three interplanetary interlopers. One of the lords stepped forward and started yelling at the trio.

"Who are you?" he began. Before the trio could speak, he continued unprompted. "This is a closed meeting. We're in the middle of a crisis, and judging by your attire you're probably spies for the demons. GUARDS! SIEZE THEM!"

"We're not spies," Sora replied as he, Donald, and Goofy readied their weapons to defend themselves while palace knights dressed in chain mail and armor surrounded them.  _What demons is he talking about?_ he thought as he slid into his battle stance.  _Is he talking about the Heartless? Have they started popping up again with one of the Princesses gone?_ Before either side could attack, a woman's voice spoke up. Sora hadn't heard it in almost three years, but he recognized it nonetheless.

"Stop!" she shouted. "Let them come forward." The guards stood down as the crowd parted to clear the three a path as they walked towards the throne, ignoring the confused, angry, and suspicious glares the nobility were giving them on the way. As they walked towards the throne, Sora recognized the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, in the back of the crowd, confirming his suspicions of whose world they were on.  _Considering they keep in constant contact with Merlin and Master Yen Sid, they probably knew we were coming,_ he thought to himself as he turned back towards the throne.

On one throne sat a man with wavy brown hair and such extravagant attire that he could only be the king of this world. The king gave Sora a look of confused recognition. Since Sora was still holding his Keyblade, he suspected the king had seen one before. On the other throne sat a blonde-haired woman the three of them recognized immediately. The queen greeted them with a warm smile that proved that she remembered them too.

"Hi, Aurora," Goofy said first, ignoring the shocked gasps of the assembled noblemen and women that someone would dare to be so informal with the queen. They gasped even louder when Queen Aurora stood up from her seat and wrapped the three intruders in a large hug.

"It's good to see you three again," she told them before letting go and turning to address the assembled lords and ladies of the royal court.

"I'd like to introduce you all to my good friends, Sora, Donald and Goofy. Three courageous knights who rescued me and other kidnapped princesses when I was abducted three years ago. They are friends of the crown and are to be treated with the utmost respect." This seemed to calm most of them down, though Sora noticed a few still sent accusatory glares their way. Ignoring the suspicion of the court, the trio turned back to the queen as she introduced them to her husband, King Phillip.

"So you're the Keyblade Master my wife has been telling me about," Phillip said as he stood up to shake Sora's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"So what brings you all here?" Aurora asked as Phillip gestured for one of the servants to bring over some chairs for their guests.

"Do you remember Ansem?" Sora asked as he, Donald, and Goofy sat down.

"Yes," the queen answered as she reached out and took Phillip's hand, her expression saying she knew what Sora was going to say, but was desperately praying he wouldn't. "But you defeated him years ago."

"It turns out his real name is Xehanort," he began. "But more importantly, he's back, and he's going after the Seven again."

* * *

A Short while later, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Phillip, Aurora, and the three fairies solemnly filed into the chamber at the top of the castle. Since only a select few in the kingdom knew the full truth of Aurora's abduction by Maleficent, King Phillip had adjourned the court meeting early so that the eight of them could discuss matters pertaining to Xehanort and the Heartless in private. After the door had been closed and Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather cast spells on the tower to make certain they would not be heard, Aurora finally spoke.

"I felt it too," she told the visitors, knowing that no further explanation was required. "The Heartless began appearing more and more these past few weeks," she continued. "So at first I thought maybe that's the reason that one of the others went missing, but now that Ansem – sorry, Xehanort – has returned, I know better. But he already used us to open the Door, so I want to know why he's going after us this time." Sora took a deep breath before speaking, knowing that he would have to explain a lot.

One truncated explanation of the Keyblade War, the X – Blade, and Master Xehanort's intentions later, Aurora had to sit down from the shock. After taking a moment to collect her thoughts, she spoke.

"If Xehanort is going after the Princesses of Heart," she asked, "what are you planning to do to protect us?"

"Well," Donald began, "an ally of ours, a retired Keyblade Master named Yen Sid, has offered the use of his home as a safe house for the Princesses of Heart until Xehanort has been defeated once and for all. Kairi's been staying there for the past few months, and Master Yen Sid has place powerful enchantments around his Tower to ensure that Xehanort and his allies cannot set foot on the world."

Aurora pulled her husband into a corner to discuss the matter in hushed whispers, no doubt arguing over the merits of her safety if she were to leave the world.  _I can't say I blame them for being wary of her leaving,_ Donald thought,  _it may only be for a little while, but Phillip probably feels worried that he should be the one protecting her._ His thoughts on the matter were interrupted when the couple walked back over to the group.

"Phillip and I have agreed that it's safer for me to come with you." She said. "Phillip and I are going to pack a few bags." When she noticed the sun beginning to dip below the horizon, in addition to the dark bags under her three friends' sleep deprived eyes, she told them that they would leave in the morning. "It's getting late and you three look like you haven't slept in days," she told them. "If you're going to be body guards for the Princesses of Heart, you'll need to get your sleep." None of the travelers had slept since the night before Sora's arrival at the Tower, and despite the gravity of the situation, the jetlag from the time differences between worlds was exhausting. So despite their reservations about letting their guard down, Sora, Donald, and Goofy reluctantly agreed to get some rest, knowing that Aurora was right. To ensure that they could still protect Aurora at a moment's notice, Aurora had instructed the servants to prepare beds in the rooms immediately adjacent to the royal bed chambers. After a long, dreary night, everyone fell asleep, ready to bring Aurora back to the Mysterious Tower in the morning.

* * *

#### Enchanted Dominion - Bridge

#### July 9, 2015

Before teleporting onto the castle bridge, Donald had set the Gummi Ship's autopilot to land itself in the nearby forest to ensure the ship stayed concealed. The teleportation mechanism only worked when the ship was in orbit, and Donald didn't want to risk the ship getting blown up while they were down here. So, at dawn, the three visitors, Queen Aurora, and King Phillip rode out on horseback from the royal palace in secret, with Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather following behind in the air. Until tonight, only a select few would know of the Queen's departure. As they rode off the bridge and into the forest, Sora was worried by the lack of opposition on the way.  _Not that I'm complaining,_ he thought to himself,  _but given what Aurora told me about this world's Heartless problem, I thought they would be coming after us like bees going to a flower. This is too easy._

Almost as soon as the thought entered his mind, he felt a dark presence off to the side. He looked to the left just in time to see an armada of Heartless headed their way. In the middle of the mob he could make out Neoshadows, a few Crimson Jazz, some Wyverns, and small fast moving green heartless that from Roxas' memories he knew the Organization called Deserters. The large mass was moving with frightening speed, and there was no doubt in the teen's mind what their target was.

"HERE THEY COME!" He shouted to the rest of the group as they pushed the horses to go faster. When they reached the forest they split up. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aurora followed the homing beacon that Chip and Dale had installed on the ship to find where it was parked. Meanwhile, Phillip rode his horse in the opposite direction with the three fairies right behind him, hoping they might be able to throw the dark horde off the groups trail and divide the mob.

They were wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured that, while the Princesses of Heart would only share the details of their captivity in Hollow Bastion before/during the first Kingdom Hearts game with a select few, they'd at least tell the public of their worlds a watered down version of the story to pacify those curious about their Princesses' disappearances. So in this world, the only person who knows about Xehanort, Princesses of Heart, the Heartless and all that stuff from KH1 besides Aurora, Maleficent, and the 3 fairies is Phillip. The reason I have left out Aurora and Phillips parents is because I figured that, while most of the inhabitants of the world were kept in stasis until it was restored, Maleficent probably killed a few people when she captured Aurora after Birth By Sleep, making Aurora and Phillip the only royalty left when the world is restored after KH1.
> 
> Since the only time we actually see Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter a world in the series (as far as I can remember, correct me if I'm wrong and no, I'm not counting the rabbit hole in Wonderland for KH1 because we didn't see how they got in there) was Pride Lands in KH2, where they teleported into the Gorge, it made sense to me that the Gummi ship would have an autopilot and a teleportation mechanism for discreet arrivals, and a homing beacon so that they can find the ship when they're ready to leave. The reason they're all on horseback is that everyone agreed that it would be quicker than walking/running the entire way to where the ship was.


	5. The Silent Forest

#### Enchanted Dominion – The Forest

#### July 9, 2015

 _We're_   _almost there,_ Sora thought to himself as he pushed his horse to go faster before twisting around in the saddle and slashing at every Heartless that came within reach of his Keyblade. He was quickly finding battling Heartless on horseback to be a challenging and cumbersome task. The restricted mobility caused by the stirrups and saddle greatly reduced his range and accuracy.

His train of thought snapped back to reality as he, Donald, Goofy, and Aurora entered another clearing in the forest, this one containing a small cottage with hoof and boot prints leading right to the front door, which King Phillip held open as he urged the four to hurry. Up ahead, Sora could hear the tracking beacon in Donald's hand beeping like crazy, meaning that the Gummi ship was nearby, and all they had to do was get Aurora on the ship. The automated defensive cannons would take care of the Heartless.

However, Aurora realized that they could not outrun the horde forever. So as soon as she reached the old house, she leapt from her horse and quickly let it into the now cramped cottage to weather the storm while her three protectors turned around to fight off the seemingly endless mob of Heartless.  _A Keyblade wielder, a magician, and a royal knight from Disney Castle fighting off a thousand Heartless on horseback,_ Sora thought as he turned his horse around to face the dark legion that now surrounded the clearing.  _This will certainly be interesting._

Before the trio could charge at the Heartless, they parted on one side. Out of the mob came a massive Heartless that none of them had ever seen before. It was large, almost as big as the Prison Keeper they'd faced in Halloween Town two years ago. One arm was longer than the other, and held a long spinning wheel. The other arm resembled one of the gauntlets of the Guard Armor that they'd fought in Traverse Town together back when they first met. The feet were pointed like blades, and the head resembled a large wooden pole with a spindle at the tip. As soon as it close enough, the three heroes charged.

* * *

Despite the limitations of fighting on horseback, the three of them were doing remarkably well. Goofy threw his shield so that it ricocheted off the monster's feet for maximum damage. Donald cast fire spells at its arms, and Sora circled the body, slashing at the torso whenever his steed came in range. It was a fairly easy battle, and the beast was vanquished in a matter of minutes. For some strange reason, the legions that had surrounded the cottage vanished with this one. But Sora, Donald, and Goofy had more pressing concerns.

They quickly dismounted their horses and were about to go give everyone the all clear when the cottage door opened. They immediately went into their battle stances when they saw who was coming out. A man wearing the Organization's signature black coat emerged from the cottage with an unconscious Aurora slung over his back. His hood was down, showing his short grey hair, and though Sora didn't know who he was, he still seemed familiar to the boy somehow. Donald and Goofy, on the other hand, recognized him from the pictures they'd seen of him from the Disney Town Racetrack over a decade ago.

"TERRA!?" they shouted in surprise.  _So this is Terra,_ Sora thought to himself as he examined the man who Mickey and Yen Sid said had helped shape who he had become. Before any of them could react, Terra spoke, but his voice was hauntingly recognizable: it was the voice of Xehanort.

"Terra is no more," the man with Terra's face and Xehanort's voice replied as he started walking off with the captive Princess of Heart. "And I'll be taking the princess now."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Sora cried out as he, Donald, and Goofy attacked the man in black, only to be blown back by a massive blast of darkness from Terra/Xehanort's free hand. Donald slammed into the side of a rock wall on one side of the clearing and Goofy had the wind knocked out of him by a tree branch. Sora, on the other hand, carved a trench across the clearing before stopping at the feet of the group's horses, which had begun grazing after the battle. As the seventeen year old Keybearer lost consciousness, he managed to hear Aurora's kidnapper say a few parting words before vanishing into a Corridor of Darkness.

"Foolish boy," he said. "The thirteen are nearly assembled. What hope do you have against us?" Sora didn't even have the energy to respond before he passed out to the sight of Terra/Xehanort escaping with Aurora through a portal to who knows where.  _We failed,_ was Sora's last thought before consciousness left him.

* * *

#### Enchanted Dominion - Maleficent's Throne

#### July 9, 2015

Meanwhile, in a gloomy, long decaying fortress in the heart of a mountain range not far from where the Princess had been taken, a dark fairy walked briskly through the halls of her ruined citadel. Today, conquerors and villains from across the known worlds had gathered here in secret. Though they were of different backgrounds, personalities, beliefs, origins, and even species, all of them had one thing in common: an insatiable thirst for power and conquest.  _A small but diverse gathering, if I do say so myself,_ Maleficent thought to herself as she made her way toward her throne room. Her musings on the gathering she had called were interrupted by the sound of an elderly gentleman's voice.

"Lovely day for abducting a princess." In an instant she whirled around and slammed the elderly man who'd appeared from nowhere against the wall behind her.

"You are not welcome here, Xehanort," she almost spat the name out as she lifted the Keyblade Master by his neck with one hand.

"But I came to provide you with some information," the old man managed to choke out from Maleficent's icy cold grip. Maleficent snorted with disgust.

"The last bit of information you offered me was a collection of half-truths worded to deceive me into doing your dirty work for you Make no mistake you old fool, I. Am. No one's. Pawn." With that, she released the old man and sneered as she watched him gasp for breath.  _However powerful he is,_ she thought to herself,  _he has his limits. "_ You may have the princesses," she continued, "but I know how to find the Book. You need me, but I don't need you."

"If you interfere with my plans I will kill you myself," she warned as she spun on her heals and resumed her trek for the throne room, casting a barrier spell that would block all intruders from entering once she passed through the door.

From left to right she could identify them all: a one–handed pirate captain, the bumbling oaf who had been her servant for nearly thirteen years, a small gerbil–like creature who'd recently escaped from an intergalactic prison, an egotistical hunter with an ego as big as the mountain, a fur–obsessed fashionista and her two thugs, a mutated fish man who ferried souls to the afterlife, a power–hungry leonine prince from Sherwood Forest, and the god of the underworld whom she'd grown surprisingly fond of in the last 2 years.

 _A bit of an odd assortment, I'll admit,_ Maleficent thought to herself as she gazed out at potential allies new and old.  _But with enough planning and preparation, we could be a force to be reckoned with._ With that, she stood and addressed the assembled evildoers. The reputation of the "Mistress of All Evil" clearly preceded her, as all heads immediately turned to face her as she stood up from her throne.

"Good morning," she began. "My oafish associate was supposed to have informed you of what this gathering is about so I'll get right to the chase. We've all got one thing in common, and one thing only: an insatiable lust for power and conquest. But if there is one thing that the past decade has taught me is that total domination on the scale that we all crave cannot be achieved alone. Conquering one world, let alone enforcing our reign across several requires collaboration." She paused, giving her audience a moment to let this sink in before she continued.

"In the past, some of us worked together in a loose alliance to spread our influence across the known worlds. Our campaign of conquest was brought to a halt, our numbers were cut in half, and though I died in the initial battle, I was resurrected a year later. Since our initial defeat, we've all gone our separate ways. Every attempt we have made to achieve our aims of conquest on our own has ended in failure. Which is why I think it's time we join forces once more. To rekindle old alliances and forge new ones." There were murmurs of caution and disapproval among the newcomers, but she noticed Hook give a nod to signify his commitment to the old alliance. When Hades gave a thumbs up to convey the same sentiment, she felt a sharp pang in her chest. Surprisingly, she found the experience-which she'd once heard peasants on other worlds call one's heart "fluttering"-enjoyable.

Pushing the sensation aside, she struck her staff against the stone floor of the castle, releasing a burst of green fire that immediately captured everyone's attention.

"I know what you're all thinking," she began. "Why should I trust anyone else in this room? To answer that unspoken question, the reason we must band together once more is because like it or not we need each other. Every time one of us tries to achieve anything on our own, we're beaten down by Keyblade Wielders and other miscreants of the universe. But when we act as one, combine our resources, and coordinate our strategies, WE! ARE! UNSTOPPABLE!" As a chorus of cheers and war cries rose up from her audience, Maleficent knew she had them. She smiled a malevolent grin as she looked out over her new allies.  _It's time,_ she thought to herself.  _No more hiding in the shadows, striking out only when it's convenient. If we are to conquer the worlds, we need that wretched King's "datascape" and the Book of Prophecies. And I refuse to wait around any longer and rely on Xehanort's machinations to provide us with fleeting windows in which to acquire what we need. We will take what we want, when we want it. And we. Will. Conquer._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason why everyone knows of Maleficent's reputation is because, if you recall, her takeover of Hollow Bastion took place nine years before the first Kingdom Hearts, so it's only natural that the Mistress of All Evil would develop an infamous reputation by the time of Kingdom Hearts. The reason she is able to gain control of the villains so quickly is a combination of the intimidation and respect that her reputation generates, and her own natural flair and charisma.
> 
> For reference, these are all of the villains who attend Maleficent's meeting: Captain Hook, Hades, Pete, Hamsterviel (Lilo & Stitch: The Series), Gaston, Cruella de Vil, Horace and Jasper (Cruella's Henchmen), Prince John (Robin Hood), and Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean).
> 
> Before anyone asks, there will be no female Seekers of Darkness. It has been established that the new Organization is composed of incarnations of Xehanort or individuals who had a piece of Xehanort's heart implanted in them. Given that, the idea of Xehanort doing that to a female character is just too much Squick/Nightmare Fuel for my taste.


	6. Realm of Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku and Mickey's trip to the Realm of Darkness happens at the same time that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are in Enchanted Dominion. There will be a few times in this story where the events on one world are happening at the same time as another, so from this point on, I will clarify at the start of each world when that is the case.

#### Halloween Town – Bone Yard

#### July 8, 2015

Riku sighed as he closed the door to the tunnel leading out of one of Halloween Town's cemeteries. He and Mickey had chosen this world as their entry point into the Realm of Darkness for two reasons: the first was because the denizens of Halloween Town had proven to be perfectly capable of tearing the Heartless to shreds unaided. The second reason was because they would attract less attention creating a portal to the Dark Realm than they would on another world. With Xehanort on the loose and going after the princesses, he and Mickey wanted to ensure that their trip to the Realm of Darkness was as brief as possible.

Though he had not spoken of the meeting to anyone, Riku still remembered Terra after all these years. Though he had never learned the name of the man who had given him the power to wield the Keyblade, once he heard what had happened to Terra - how he'd been manipulated by Xehanort - it wasn't that difficult to make the connection. Now that Riku knew the full story, he was eager to free Terra from Xehanort's control. But in order to do that, they'd need to defeat the tyrant first, and for that, they needed to rescue Aqua.

 _Well,_ he thought to himself as he turned back to Mickey and nodded to confirm that they were alone in the area.  _Let's get this over with._

"We're ready," he told the king as he tugged at the hood of the black coat each of them was wearing. Since the two of them were entering the Realm of Darkness, they would need the cloaks to protect themselves from the realm's corrupting influence.  _Hang in there, Aqua,_ he thought,  _help is on the way._

After taking a few moments of stressful concentration, a portal of darkness appeared against the wall of the cemetery. With a wordless glance at his royal companion, the duo stepped through the Dark Corridor. In a few moments, the portal closed, leaving no trace that anyone had been there in the first place.

Meanwhile, on a beach far from the morbid world Riku and the King had left behind, Aqua and her amnesiac companion turned to look at the barren landscape laid out behind them. They could both feel it, even from here.

"Our rescue has arrived," she said.

* * *

#### Realm of Darkness – Middle Zone

#### July 8, 2015

As he and Mickey exited the Corridor, they looked around at the dark and foreboding landscape.  _So this is the Realm of Darkness,_ he thought as the two of them took off at a run along the widening path of black stone and grey dirt in the direction in which they could sense the small flicker of light in the distance that could only be Aqua. With Xehanort and his allies still at large, the two had agreed that while they were in the Realm of Darkness, talking would attract too much attention. So as they ran in Aqua's general direction, the two Keyblade Masters only communicated when absolutely necessary, and even then they limited their communication to hand signals only.

During his brief odyssey into the dark realm three years ago, King Mickey had created a map of the parts of the realm he had been to. According to Mickey's map, the realm was composed of three main zones: Upper, Middle, and Lower. This being the Realm of Darkness, and Riku and Mickey being Keyblade wielders from the Realm of Light, Heartless naturally started crawling out of the woodwork to face them. Although the Heartless were much stronger than they were before, the interlopers of light were as well. The duo fought their way through three waves of the monsters by the time they reached the path between the Middle Zone and the Lower one.

The human boy and the mouse king fought their way through the Lower Zone in a third of an hour, their rapid pace and impressive combat prowess allowing them to make short work of the Heartless and good time as they climbed the elaborate stone platforms in the Lower Zone. When they reached the Upper Zone, however, they saw that the path to the part of the realm that Mickey had entered from the last time, the Valley of Darkness, was blocked off by a shadowy barrier.

Sensing that the only way to bring down the barrier would be to destroy enough Heartless, Riku signaled his intentions to Mickey before he quickly began jumping across the floating islands of the Upper Zone towards the pools of darkness that were obviously points at which the Heartless would spawn to defend the barricade. Nodding his understanding, Mickey hooped across the islands on the other side of the Zone to do the same. Within a matter of minutes, the barrier was down, and the two friends met in the middle.

 _Something's wrong,_ Riku thought as he and Mickey walked into the circular area surrounded by rock spires past the barrier they'd just brought down. He tensed and quickly drew his blade as a dome of purple energy enveloped the ring of stone.  _A trap,_ he stated mentally as he glanced at Mickey from the corner of his eye to confirm that the mouse had readied his Keyblade as well. Dozens of Heartless began to emerge from the ground as the duo stood back to back and prepared to face the horde.

 _Here they come,_ he mouthed silently to his friend as the demonic legion charged.

* * *

#### Realm of Darkness – Dark Meridian

#### July 8, 2015

Although thirteen years had passed in the Realm of Light, time did not flow in the Realm of Darkness, so Aqua vividly remembered the vicious creature that had attacked her as she made her way through this dimension of darkness. It was a massive and relentless beast, and it had taken nearly all of her energy to defeat it. If there were more of them, as she suspected that there were, whoever had come to rescue them would need all the help they could get. Taking a deep breath, she stood up from her current spot on the beach, turned away from the water in the direction she'd come from to get here, and ran.

"Where are you going?" her companion asked as he turned around to watch her leave.

"Our rescuers are probably going to need some help," she shouted back as she weaved her way between the rocks on the grey sand. "Try not to forget who I am before I get back," she added with a combination of mirth and sarcasm in her voice. Chuckling, the man turned back to face the ocean before verbally reciting everything he could remember about himself to keep him busy until she got back.

* * *

#### Realm of Darkness – Upper Zone

#### July 8, 2015

 _We're almost there,_ Riku thought to himself as he and Mickey finished off the last of the heartless and the energy dome above their heads dissipated, the dismal black sky of the Realm of Darkness replacing the purple of the dome. When the monsters were all gone, the duo nodded to each other before resuming their run to Aqua. The two of them ran in silence before they finally reached the Valley of Darkness.

As the pair ran across the open ground, they could sense a sinister presence lurking behind them. Riku and Mickey stopped dead in their tracks, and barely managed to cast a reflect spell around themselves as a massive Heartless with glowing red eyes charged at them from the shadows. As soon as the spell dissipated, the beast retreated into the shadows, until all the boy and the mouse could see was it's glowing red eyes. When the beast reemerged from the shadows to strike again, both of them blocked the swipe of its claws then immediately began slashing at it with their Keyblades the instant it stopped moving.

After repeating this pattern a few times, the beast changed it's attack pattern. It started charging the duo, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. The two Masters dodged the blazing demon until they could land a few hits on it. Despite their best efforts, the fire spewing Heartless was moving too fast for them to land a hit. A sudden Blizzaga spell knocked the Heartless off balance long enough for Riku to land a few more hits while Mickey looked for the source of the blast. When the monster recovered and another Blizzaga spell flew past, he finally saw her.

There, racing towards them from across the Valley of Darkness, her appearance unchanged after thirteen years in what some cultures would probably refer to as Hell, was Master Aqua. Mickey smiled at the sight of his old friend, who gave a quick smile back before leaping over the Heartless and casting more ice - based spells at its back as she twirled through the air. As she landed on her feet, the monster started creating a multicolored assortment of projections of itself. Upon realizing that it could only direct it's duplicates in one direction at a time, the three Keyblade Masters took turns drawing the beast's attention while moving in close enough to strike. After a few more mintues - or what amounted for minutes in a dimension where time didn't flow - the monster finally fell.

As the Heartless disintegrated into the shadows, Riku stood to catch his breath while Mickey ran to Aqua and hugged her. The two old friends were crying tears of joy at seeing each other again after so long. After a few moments, Aqua finally spoke.

"It's good to see you again Mickey," she told the mouse. She had never known Mickey was a king, so to her he had always been a fellow Keyblade wielder and a friend.

"It's good to see you too, ," he replied as Aqua briskly led them back to the beach to introduce her rescuers to her companion. "It's been too long," he continued. "Almost thirteen years." At that little bombshell, Riku felt ashamed for almost chuckling at the look of shock on Aqua's face. Mickey quickly reached over and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze to let her know that they were here for her. As the three of them exited the valley in awkward silence, Riku decided to clear the air.

"Sorry we didn't come sooner," the young man spoke up. "We've been pretty busy." Realizing that he had yet to introduce himself, he quickly corrected that. "I'm Riku," he added. Aqua turned to look at him, and her eyes widened in surprise. He clearly seemed familiar to her, but why was completely…  _Wait!_ He thought.  _Now I remember. She was there on the Islands, the day after I met Terra._ Despite the fact that the event in question happened thirteen years ago, Riku's eidetic memory was something he prided himself on, to the envy of his friends. As intelligent as he was, Sora could be a bit forgetful at times, and was naturally jealous. Riku's reminiscing was interrupted when Aqua spoke.

"I remember you," she began. "I met you and your friend Sora on the Destiny Islands thirteen years ago. My friend Terra gave you the power to wield the Keyblade." Before she could ask the question he knew she was about to ask, Riku summoned his blade into his hands. He raised an eyebrow in answer to her unasked question.

"I guess that answers that," she responded with a chuckle as they reached the Dark Meridian. Mickey grinned, relieved that his friend was alright, though he suspected that was the first time she'd laughed in a long time. As they approached the shoreline, a man in the Organization's coat stood up from one of the rocks near the water's edge. Riku and Mickey immediately tensed and prepared for a fight, but Aqua remained at ease.

"It's alright," she told them. "He's a friend." Their confusion and Xehanort – induced distrust of the Organization's iconic garb quickly turned to shock when the stranger approached and lowered his hood, revealing his long blond hair and familiar face for the duo to see.

"Ansem!?" They both gasped as their old friend walked towards them with an inquisitive look on his face before suddenly doubling over and clutching the sides of his head in pain. The two Keyblade Masters quickly realized what was wrong immediately.  _He's been here long enough that he's forgotten who he is,_ Riku thought to himself.  _And now, seeing Mickey and I is bringing at least some of them back. Just like how Roxas started regaining his memories of the Organization when he looked at Namine's drawings of him and Axel in the group's uniform._ His train of thought was interrupted when the amnesiac king of Radiant Garden released his head, stood up, and gave his two old friends the biggest hug Riku had ever been given.

"I remember now," he said. "Mickey, Riku, it's been a while hasn't it?" he chuckled as he released his friends and they took a moment to catch their breath. The three friends all laughed for a moment, cherishing the reunion before Mickey finally spoke up.

"We've missed you both, but we'll have to continue our reunion elsewhere," he began before lowering his voice to a whisper. "Xehanort has ears everywhere." Despite both castaways' surprise as the mention of his name, both of them nodded their agreement before Mickey turned towards the ocean and used his Keyblade to open a Door to Light, which would take them to Disney Castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was more or less the Birth By Sleep Final Mix Secret Episode with Riku and Mickey instead of Aqua. If you haven't played Birth By Sleep Final Mix, the boss Riku, Mickey, and Aqua fight is the Dark Hide, a pureblood Hearless boss that looks like a quadrupedal version of the Dark Thorn from KH2. It's fought by Aqua in the Realm of Darkness as part of the Secret Episode.
> 
> For those of you who are wondering why they're going to Disney Castle, according to Tetsuya Nomura, the Door to Light takes people (or at least this is how It's been explained on forums, idk if Nomura ever specified if this was accurate or not, but all other uses of the Door to Light in the series corroborate this interpretation, so I'm going with it for the sake of my story) to the world they come from or consider home.


	7. Castle of Dreams

#### Disney Town – Castle Dining Room

#### July 9, 2015

Aqua slumped back in her chair in shock as she processed what Mickey and Riku had told her she'd missed. Xehanort – still in control of Terra's body, much to her chagrin – performing cruel and inhumane experiments on innocent people. She stared blankly into space as she processed everything she'd just heard. Xehanort becoming a heartless; His creation of Organization XIII for the sole purpose of stripping them of their regrown hearts in order to fill them with his own; Travelling back in time to create an army of himself to achieve his goals. It sickened her to no end.  _I should have killed him when I had the chance,_ she thought bitterly to herself as she reached for the nearest glass of water.  _No,_ she realized.  _I couldn't. Not when Terra could still fight back. I couldn't do that to him. I…_

Acknowledging that self – deprecation over what could have been was pointless and accomplished nothing, Aqua instead turned her mind towards digesting the rest of the info dump Mickey and Riku had given her. She hadn't performed the Inheritance Ceremony on that boy Sora to avoid conflict between the two friends because she knew Terra had already done it with Riku, but Riku had apparently followed in Terra's footsteps and became another pawn of Xehanort's, causing his Keyblade to transfer itself to Sora instead. Riku had eventually broken free of Xehanort's control and had spent the past three years atoning for his mistakes, culminating in his passing of the Mark of Mastery Exam.

It was when hearing Riku's story of his quest for redemption that Aqua realized that Master Eraqus had taken the wrong approach with Terra all those years ago. While she, Terra, and Ven had been taught that balance between light and darkness had to be maintained, their teacher had always instilled in them the belief that darkness was evil. So when Terra's darkness surfaced during their Exam, Eraqus had berated him for being obsessed with power. But when Riku began to dabble in darkness, he was encouraged to embrace it. And because of that dual control of light and darkness, Riku had succeeded on his Exam where Terra had failed, and that was an impressive feat in her eyes.

"Congratulations on passing your Exam," she told Riku when she finally spoke. After Riku thanked her, she turned to address Mickey and continued.

"This is so much to take in right now," she told him. "I feel like I could have done more to stop Xehanort last time. But now that I'm back, I'm going to help make sure that we put him in the ground for good this time." After taking a moment to calm herself with another glass of water, she had one final statement. "But first, I need to wake Ven up." Mickey immediately grinned at that and Aqua had a feeling as to why.

"I was trying to find the right time to bring that up," he said. "We've found his heart, but you're the only one who knows how to get to his body." Aqua hadn't felt so happy in thirteen years with that news. Not caring about court etiquette around royalty – since Mickey had told her not to be so formal around him anyway. They were still friends first and foremost – she walked around the small table and hugged the mouse. "As soon as we set off again I can take you there," she began as she wiped tears of joy from her eyes. She was so relieved to know that she could finally wake Ven up.  _Now that just leaves Terra,_ she thought to herself as she sat back down.

But before she could continue, the three Keyblade Masters suddenly turned and looked to the sky as they felt a tremor in the universe. Ansem, as her formerly amnesiac friend was called, was puzzled by their reaction, but figured that he could not sense what they were because he wasn't a Keyblade Wielder. Before he could ask the three of them what they meant, Riku answered for him.

"Xehanort's taken another of the Princesses of Heart," he said simply. Before either Ansem or Aqua could broach the subject of what they would be doing now in light of this development, the castle shook with a thundering roar. Though she had not heard it in thirteen years, Aqua recognized the sound for what it was: an explosion. The castle was under attack. Years of combat training and instincts kicked in as she shot up from her chair and bolted from the room with Riku and Mickey right behind her.  _I may be tired after living in darkness for over a decade,_ she thought to herself,  _but that doesn't mean I'm not going to do my job as Keyblade Master and help those who need me._

* * *

#### The Lanes Between - Sora, Donald, and Goofy's Gummi Ship

#### July 9, 2015

 _We failed,_ Sora thought to himself as he, Donald, and Goofy piloted their Gummi Ship through the Lanes Between.  _Xehanort took Aurora, and we couldn't do anything to stop him._  Despite the trio's promise to find Aurora and bring her home, King Phillip was devastated by his wife's abduction. Nonetheless, he wished the three travelers luck in their quest, and they provided him with some tips for effectively fighting the Heartless before leaving to find the next Princess.

The ship flew through the stars at top speed towards the nearest confirmed Princess-inhabited world. None of them spoke throughout the entire journey, the gravity of the situation now weighing down on them like lead. As they approached the nearest world on the navigation menus, the trio took turns preparing for the adventure. Only as they were preparing to land their ship did Goofy break the uneasy silence that had fallen over them since they'd left since the Enchanted Dominion.

"I hope we're not too late," he said.

* * *

#### Castle of Dreams – Palace Courtyard

#### July 9, 2015

Sora, Donald, and Goofy raced out of the forest they'd covertly landed their ship in, only to find themselves in what was obviously the courtyard for a castle. Since, including this one, there were only 2 worlds inhabited by a Princess of Heart they hadn't been to yet, they knew that this was either Cinderella's world or Snow White's. Considering that either of the two was an actual princess, Sora figured that the castle would be the best place to look for them, and started toward the door, Donald and Goofy right on his heels, having reached the same conclusion.

As they climbed the steps, they found that the entrance to the castle was blocked by two palace guards. The two of them snapped to attention as soon as the newcomers approached.

"I'm sorry," the guard said, "but due to the ball tonight, only invited guests are permitted on the palace grounds."

"Do you three have an invitation?" the other one asked.

"We don't," Sora began, "But…"

"Then would you be so kind as to vacate the premises?" the first guard asked rhetorically as the two of them crossed their weapons in front of the doors. Recognizing that starting a fight with the guards would not make a good first impression, the group departed the castle to plan their next move.

"What do we do now?" Donald asked as the three closed door behind them. They knew that their only option now was to sneak into the castle, but none of them voiced what they were all thinking. As the three discussed how to sneak inside, none of them noticed a small light floating down towards them and its glow softened to reveal an elderly woman in a light blue robe.

"It's good to see you three again," Cinderella's Fairy Godmother's voice snapped them out of their conversation. After exchanging greetings, she explained to the Keyblade Master and his friends that Prince Thomas and Princess Cinderella were hosting a royal ball to celebrate the prince's birthday. The three heroes in turn explained their current situation, and the urgent need to bring the Princesses of Heart somewhere safe. However after they explained what was going on, the trio found that their old friend had bad news.

"I saw a man in a black coat sneaking into through an upstairs window," she told them. With this pronouncement, the trio became even more agitated.

"We really need to get inside now," Sora practically shouted as he started jumping around on his toes, like he was ready to fight his way to Cinderella single-handed. Before he could however, the Fairy Godmother stopped him in his tracks with four words.

"I have a suggestion."

* * *

#### Castle of Dreams – Mousehole

#### July 9, 2015

#### Later...

 _I hope we're not too late,_ Sora thought as he, Donald, and Goofy made their way through the mouseholes of Cinderella's castle. The fairy godmother had shrunk the trio down so that they could make their way through the castle undetected. After introducing the group to Cinderella's mouse friends Jaq and Gus, the five raced through the mouse-sized tunnels toward the ballroom. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were doing parkour off the walls while Jaq and Gus scampered along behind.

When the trio had discussed the benefits and disadvantages of this particular method of infiltration outside, Donald had pointed out that their abilities and the lack of security would outweigh the disadvantage of smaller strides. So the three warriors found themselves hurrying through the passages Cinderella's mouse friends used to traverse the castle. The Fairy Godmother went on ahead to warn Cinderella and Prince Thomas of the danger, leaving the mice with the task of guiding the heroes through their miniature labyrinth.

Since the Organization had arrived before them, they weren't surprised when Heartless began popping up at the major intersections of the labyrinth. The three of them made short work of the monsters before moving further into the castle. However as they moved deeper into the building, the Heartless began attacking any of Cinderella's mouse friends wandering the tunnels too close to the Keybearer's path. Sora, being the compassionate young man that he was, was always compelled to rescue all the mice pinned down by the Heartless.

* * *

A few hours later, the trio reached an opening just above the ballroom. Goofy looked around the room before spotting Cinderella, Prince Thomas, and the Fairy Godmother standing directly below them. After interrupting Donald and Sora bickering over how to slip through the crowd at their current size without being seen to tell them what he saw, the trio decided to simply drop down to the floor from the hole. Cinderella spotted them first as they drifted toward the ground, and the Fairy Godmother quickly restored them to their normal size.

"It's good to see you all again," Cinderella said as she hugged the three heroes once they'd finished growing.

"My wife's godmother told us what's going on," Prince Thomas added after he introduced himself. "I hope you have a plan to keep Cinderella safe from this madman."

"As a matter of fact" Goofy replied, "We do have a plan." With that, Sora quickly explained the plan to use Yen Sid's tower as a bunker of sorts for the Princesses of Heart.

* * *

"I'm sorry, my love," the prince said to his wife after Sora finished explaining the plan. "But it sounds like you must leave immediately." Cinderella didn't have to argue. She wanted to stay with her prince and her mouse friends, but she knew that every minute she stayed while Xehanort was on the loose was another minute the danger she was in grew exponentially.

"Alright," she told Sora after she said her goodbyes to her husband and her father-in-law. "Thomas will take care of things here. Let's get going."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you," a voice loudly interrupted. The crowds quickly parted with surprise to reveal a one – eyed man in a black coat standing in the doorway, with grey streaks in his long greasy hair. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were filled with an intense feeling of dread as they recognized him immediately.

Braig.

"You're not getting anywhere near the princess," Sora shouted as he, Donald, and Goofy stood in a protective circle around Cinderella. There was no need for banter with the schemer this time. They knew why he was here.

"I thought you chumps learned your lesson after we snatched up Aurora," the Freeshooter fired back as a massive Heartless like none the trio had ever seen before appeared in front of them out of thin air. "You're in way over your pretty little heads." The palace guards gathered behind the trio to escort the princess to safety.

* * *

After all the Heartless the trio had faced in the castle's plumbing, subduing the giant one took almost no time at all. The partygoers fled the room in panic while the three warriors battled the monster. By the time the last guest cleared the doors, a heart floated up and the beast went down.

"We took care of it!" Sora called out to Prince Thomas after he, Donald, and Goofy caught their breath. But Thomas didn't answer. His gaze was transfixed on something behind them. When the trio turned to follow his line of sight, their hearts plummeted in their chests when they saw Cinderella's escort lying unconscious on the floor with pools of blood oozing outward from the visible holes in their chests that Xigbar's laser guns had obviously created.

"How are we supposed to protect the princesses is Xehanort is always a step ahead of us?" He wondered aloud as their second failure weighed down on his shoulders like lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of Cinderella's prince is from Once Upon A Time.


	8. Disney Town

#### Radiant Garden - Grand Hall

#### July 9, 2015

"Are there any questions?" Leon asked as he looked around the members of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee. As more and more survivors of the Fall had returned from across the stars, the Committee's ranks expanded rapidly and their progress towards restoring the world to its former glory quickly accelerated. In the past two years, they'd managed to completely rebuild the castle, the city walls, the framework of the gardens, and the remaining residential districts. Rain had fallen on the mountains for the first time in over a decade, and the once barren mountains were now verdant with fresh grass and other vegetation. The dry, rocky canyons had been mostly filled up with rainwater, and some of the new arrivals had set to work restoring the gardens. The last major obstacle in their goal of restoring Radiant Garden was refurbishing the city's power grid and plumbing network.

 _All things considered, we've done a pretty good job_ , the young man thought to himself as he looked around the room to find that nobody had raised their hands.

"Alright then," he continued. "Meeting adjourned." With that pronouncement, most of the crowd dispersed to go work on various projects. Within a few minutes only the original members of the group remained.

"It's amazing how far we've come in such a short time," Aerith said as she packed up the notes they'd taken for the next meeting.

"Yeah," Yuffie added as the gang began the trek downstairs to the castle entrance. "Looking at what we've accomplished, it's easy to forget that three years ago this world was a desolate wasteland."

"Well we've still got a long way to go," Leon replied. "We've got a lot more to do before Radiant Garden can really be considered "restored to its former glory"."

"We know, Leon," Cid called out with a sarcastic chuckle. "It's nice to have more people around here. It helps make things a bit livelier."

"I still don't really trust the old apprentices though," the so-called "Great Ninja" replied as she fiddled with her oversized shuriken. "Even if Xehanort duped them they still did a lot of awful stuff." After Lea left to train with Master Yen Sid, the four former founders of Organization XIII - Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo - had immediately set to work rebuilding the castle interior as a means of atoning for the crimes and atrocities they'd committed as Nobodies.

"That's why we keep a close eye on them," Aerith spoke up. "And besides," she continued. "So many people have been deceived and manipulated by Xehanort. If Riku can be forgiven for what he did, then so can they." Nobody pointed out that Riku's crimes weren't as severe as the Apprentices', but they at least understood the unspoken sentiment. That the Organization's founders deserved a chance at redemption.

"Yeah, you're right… as usual" Tifa replied with a chuckle as they reached the Entrance Hall. "Has anybody noticed how quiet it seems with Merlin gone?" After Lea and Kairi began their training with the Keyblade, the old wizard had left to assist Yen Sid with the duo's training.

"As much as I hate to admit it," Cid interjected, "I actually miss the old loon."

"Don't let him hear you, old man," Yuffie teased as she gently elbowed him in the side. "Otherwise you'll never hear the end of it." Everyone laughed aloud at that pronouncement as they walked out the castle doors towards Merlin's house. Even after the official headquarters of the Restoration Committee was moved to the castle, the five of them still stopped by every afternoon for snacks and casual conversation.

* * *

When they finally returned to Merlin's house, they were surprised to find a tall man with bright red hair waiting for them.

"Hey Lea," Yuffie greeted the unexpected visitor. "What's up?"

"Bad news, I'm afraid," the red-headed Keyblade wielder replied as he stood up from the bed.

"Xehanort's going after the Princesses again," he told them. "And we're going to need all the help we can get."

* * *

#### The Lanes Between - The Flying Dutchman

#### July 9, 2015

 _At last,_ Maleficent thought to herself as she looked out the windows of Davy Jones' cabin aboard the Flying Dutchman.  _It's taken a year, but the key to the Book of Prophecies – the path to power and conquest – is finally within my grasp._ She smiled a malicious grin as an explosion bloomed down on the surface of Disney Town. Dr. Hamsterviel's clone army was doing its job well. The Leroy legion had been already begun laying siege to the castle as the rest of the alliance prepared to swoop in and seize the Datascape. Her musings were interrupted by the sudden arrival of the lord of the dead.

"The view is beautiful, isn't it?" Hades said as he stepped towards the window to stand beside her.

"While the sight of worlds burning is inherently amusing," she answered with a disgusted sneer, "I would hardly consider the sickeningly colorful village below us beautiful."

"I wasn't talking about  _that_ view," he replied. Maleficent turned to see the Greek god with a look in his eyes that suggested that he indeed meant what she thought he meant. Although normally stoic and cold-hearted, let it not be said that the Mistress of All Evil didn't have a soft side buried deep down. Having been shunned during her childhood over her green skin and magical abilities, she felt flattered that someone like Hades considered her attractive. After working with him for almost a decade, she was even willing to admit that maybe she felt the same way about him.

"As long as we're being honest with each other," she began after processing his words, "I appreciate a man with a fiery disposition. It brings out the dragon in me." The two fire-wielding villains moved a little closer together before a knock at the door caused them to awkwardly push back a few steps.

"M'lady," the duo turned to see one of Jones' mutated crew members standing in the now open doorway.

"What is it?" she asked, irritated with being interrupted. "Is Phase 2 ready yet?"

"No, m'lady," the fish man replied. "But we've hauled something up onto the deck that the Captain thinks you'll want to see." Curious, Hades and Maleficent followed the crewman upstairs and were surprised to find a large mass of metal and what appeared to be rubber sitting on the deck.

"Jones," Maleficent called out as she approached the object. "What is this heap of junk?"

"We don't know," the captain of the Flying Dutchman shouted back as he descended the steps from the helm. "We found it drifting through the lanes between. It looks to be the remains of an automaton of some sort." Hades stepped past Maleficent to examine the metal monstrosity. It looked like someone had tried to stuff a balloon inside a suit of armor judging from the shapes of the metalwork.  _A extremely sturdy balloon,_ Hades thought as he poked the rubbery substance with his absurdly sharp fingernails.  _What exactly is this thing?_ His curiosity went up further when he spotted what appeared to be a hatch on the robot's chest.

"Interesting," he said aloud as he placed a finger on the hatch. To his surprise the hatch pushed inward before splitting open to reveal a small white cylinder that rotated outward from the now open hatch. As the lord of the underworld removed his finger from the cylinder a thin, red square emerged from it, marked with a skull and crossbones – once a flag of pirates, now a near-universal symbol of death. He smiled. "We'll need to get to a computer to analyze what's on this disc," he said as he withdrew the red square. "But I think this thing could prove useful." He handed the disc to Maleficent as he gazed down at the rubbery shape that made up the machine's head, staring contemplatively at its covered mechanical eyes.

* * *

#### Disney Town – Raceway

#### July 9, 2015

#### A few hours later...

Mickey blocked another plasma bolt as he leaped over a mob of the red creatures that resembled the little blue alien called Stitch who Sora, Donald, and Goofy had befriended at Radiant Garden two years ago. Whether these red doppelgangers were related to him in any way was a mystery, but one that would need to be solved at a later date, as the King of Disney Castle and Town had more important things to worry about. Like the fact that the red monsters were sowing chaos and destruction all over his beloved world.

 _But why?_ The mouse king thought to himself as he cast a Blizzaza spell that trapped a large portion of the attacking creatures in a massive block of ice.  _They're clearly organized, yet they don't seem to have any real goal beyond causing chaos and mayhem._ He dispatched the last of the furry attackers, knocking it unconscious against a wall in the district's lower level. But just as he was about to radio the castle guards to bring the immobilized and unconscious monsters to the dungeons, the voice of Ansem – who had volunteered to coordinate the defense of the city – came over the radio.

"All units, come in. The castle is under attack. I repeat, the castle is under…" Ansem's voice was replaced by static as the line went dead. They were fighting these monsters blind. Mickey cast a freezing spell on the unconscious monsters as he ran back towards the Castle, hoping he wasn't too late and desperately praying that he was wrong.

* * *

 _This is almost too easy,_ Maleficent thought to herself as she, Hades, and Pete moved swiftly through the Castle.  _Everyone is so busy defending the city against the Leroy army that they've neglected the possibility that one such as I would use the chaos to infiltrate the castle undetected._ And indeed, the Castle appeared completely deserted. Not a trace of life besides the blond old man Pete had locked in the communications room with a fire bomb a few corridors back. But it didn't matter. As long as nobody opposed them, it was smooth sailing from there.

Maleficent would have preferred to simply use the Corridors of Darkness to reach her target, but even with Xehanort's actions shifting the balance of power towards Darkness, the Cornerstone of Light was still powerful enough to prevent the use of the Dark Corridors even though it could no longer physically keep her out of the castle. But it was all inconsequential. Once she had what she needed, she would be on her way.

A few minutes later, the trio reached the castle Library, where they found their target: the "Datascape" that King Mickey and his allies used to create a simulation of all the known Worlds based on the journal records of a tiny cricket who'd been accompanying the Keybearers and their companions over the years. With it, Maleficent intended to study it in order to find the link she believed existed between these journals, and the fabled Book of Prophecies. All they needed to do now was find a way to transport it out of the castle without damaging it.

"Quickly," she gestured to Hades, since she didn't trust Pete to prepare food, much less move delicate technology. "Help me disconnect it from the wall."

"Don't you dare take another step," a woman's voice called out behind them. The three villains turned around, and their eyes went wide with shock as they gazed upon a Keyblade Master they hadn't seen in over a decade.

"YOU!?" They all cried out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that is the original body of Baymax. I started writing this fic around the time the Big Hero 6 world was announced for KH3 and the plotline that would go with it, so I was able to incorporate it into my fic.
> 
> And yes, the enemies Mickey is fighting are the Leroy clones from Leroy & Stitch


	9. Mickey Mouse March

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place at the same time as the Castle of Dreams chapter.

#### The Lanes Between – Cid's Gummi Ship

#### July 9, 2015

"Look Out!" Kairi shouted from the navigation console as the Gummi Ship weaved its way between the cannon fire of the two flying pirate ships orbiting Disney Town. She had gone with Lea to Radiant Garden to enlist the aid of Leon and the others against Xehanort, and after Cid's long-range communication equipment received a distress beacon from Disney Town, she, Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, and Lea quickly piled into a Gummi Ship and flew off to help.

"Yuffie!" Leon hollered into the intercom from his seat in the pilot's chair. "What's the damage in the engine room?"

"That last cannonball took out our forward shields," the ninja in question fired back over the speakers. "The rear shield gummi is still working but we're toast against a direct frontal hit."

"Leon, you've got to beam us down there," Lea shouted over the blaring sirens of the cockpit. "Kairi and I can take care of things on the ground while you three get out of range of these two juggernauts." He grabbed onto a support railing as an incoming cannonball struck the ship, rocking everyone inside. Alarms shrieked louder.

* * *

#### Disney Castle – Library

#### July 9, 2015

"It can't be," Maleficent said as she, Hades and Pete faced down Aqua in the Disney Castle library. "You haven't been active in over a decade."

"You can thank Xehanort for that," the blue-haired Keyblade Master snapped as she stood in the doorway, blocking the villains' exit. "I don't suppose you'd tell me why you're attacking one world just to steal one computer?" she almost laughed as she asked the question both she and her foes knew would never be answered.

"As if," Hades shot back with a chuckle as he and Maleficent went back to preparing the computer for transport. "Now if you'll excuse us," he continued, "we'll be helping ourselves to the mouse's Datascape."

"Over my dead body," Aqua replied coldly as her stance tightened, clearly prepared for battle.

 _Well far be it from me to deny her that wish,_ Maleficent thought before speaking. "That can be arranged." She turned to her rotund accomplice. "Pete?"

The bumbling cat who Aqua had last seen banished from the city quickly pulled out a fire bomb and tossed it at the young woman's face. Aqua quickly cast a Reflega spell, but after being in the Realm of Darkness for nearly a decade with very little sleep her reflexes were a little rusty and the shockwave of the blast flung her out of the Library and down the Colonnade. She groaned as she stood up from the floor in time to see the trio of villains retreating the way they'd come with the "Datascape".

"You're not getting away that easily," she shouted as she ran through the castle corridors casting Firaga spells as she went. A triumphant smirk flashed across her face as the former "Captain Justice" hollered when one of her spells set his pants on fire. He quickly turned around and bowled another bomb at her.

"Well if it's a fight you want," he shouted as she leapt over the rolling explosive, "then it's a fight you'll get."

* * *

"I hope we're not too late," Riku panted as he and Mickey ran through the streets of Disney Town towards the nearest entrance to the Castle. Most of the red monsters had been rounded up and being taken to the dungeons, and the rest were being taken care of by the royal guards, freeing up the two Keyblade Masters to hurry to the Castle. Ansem had called a few minutes after the radios had been lost to inform them that he was alright. Mickey had instructed to wait for them in the castle Gummi Hangar in case they needed to pursue these invaders off world.

"I'm just hoping I'm wrong," the mouse replied as they came up to the Raceway. He didn't need to elaborate on what he meant. Mickey had already told Riku about the Datascape when the met up in the dash back to the castle, and the fact that the only people besides them, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, and the chipmunk twins who knew the Datascape existed were Maleficent and Pete. Deep down Mickey knew that this attack was the dark fairy's latest attempt to seize the computer containing the virtual world for herself. They'd defeated her last time, but she and Pete were alone then, trying to hold his wife for ransom in exchange for the this time they weren't alone, and instead of trying to take hostages they were using these creatures to cause chaos to divert attention away from the castle so they could slip in undetected.  _Why didn't I realize it sooner?_  He asked himself as they reached the Main Plaza.

Mickey's stomach sank as the castle doors opened and his worst fears were realized. Maleficent and Hades walked out carrying the Datascape. This only confirmed Mickey's fears that Maleficent had rebuilt her old cabal of villains.

"Not so fast!" He shouted, determined not to let them escape with the computer. The two villains turned their heads to face him.

"Well, look who decided to show up," Hades fired back. "I was wondering how long it would take you to figure out what was going on."

"As if we would ever let you get away with the Datascape," the mouse king retorted as he and Riku spread out to cut off the duo's escape routes. Just then, Pete came running out of the castle doors with Aqua right on his heels. With the addition of Aqua, the three Keyblade Wielders began closing in on the surrounded villains.

Just before they could strike, they all stopped and turned their heads up towards the sky. They could all feel it. The loss of another Princess to darkness. Xehanort had struck again. Mickey, Riku, and Aqua turned their attention back to the evil trio to find that Maleficent's gaze was now directed at the something along the castle walls. In an instant, a Corridor of Darkness opened up beneath her and her allies' feet, dropping them through it and sealing up seconds before a massive fireball struck the plaza floor from above.

"Ugh," they heard a familiar voice cry out. "Missed them by  _that_ much." The three Masters looked up to see Lea standing on the castle walls. "Oh, hey guys," he shouted when he looked down and noticed them. "I'll be right there," he added before turning and walking out of sight. A few seconds later he leapt out over the plaza before landing on his feet with another familiar face in his arms.

"Kairi!" Riku shouted, racing to his friend's side. He recognized the look on her face from when the first princess was taken only a few days ago, and quickly cast a Curaga spell to help her recover. "I thought you were supposed to stay at the Tower until Yen Sid felt you were ready to be out in the field."

"I took her with me to Radiant Garden to see if we could drum up some support from your old friends there," Lea answered, knowing that he had allowed her to sneak out with him. "We got the distress signal saying this place was under attack and came straight here."

"Well as long as you're here, we need all the help we can get," Aqua interjected as Lea and Riku helped Kairi to her feet. "Those three stole something they called the "Datascape,"" she continued. "I have no idea what that is but it seems important."

"It is," Mickey replied as he led the group into the central gazebo of the plaza. "And we have to get it back," he continued before crouching down and slipping his fingers underneath a circular panel in the floor. "We built emergency access tunnels leading to the Gummi Hangar in case of emergencies," he said as Riku joined him in moving the heavy slab. "This will take us straight there so we can hurry after them."

"Leon, Yuffie, and Cloud are still in orbit on their Gumi Ship trying to avoid the fleet they have up there," Kairi added as the two masters finished opening the tunnel, revealing a metal ladder going straight down. "They'll be able to follow them and give us an idea of which direction they're heading."

"Great idea," Riku said as Lea made contact with their friends' ship to inform them of the situation. "We'll talk about everything else on the way. Now let's move." With that, the five Keybearers jumped down the long shaft leading to the hangars, racing to catch up to the villains and recover the Datascape before it was too late.


	10. Mount Olympus

#### The Lanes Between – Donald and Goofy's Gummi Ship

#### July 9, 2015

"We don't stand a chance," Sora sighed as he slumped in his chair in the cockpit. "No matter how hard we try Xehanort and the Organization are grabbing the Princesses, and they're toying with us. They have enough people that they can grab all of them except Kairi at once. The only reason we've even had time to react is because they want to rub their victory in our faces." Donald and Goofy exchanged glances. They knew Sora kept a lot of his feelings bottled up but it was still rare to see their usually optimistic friend this upset. Putting the Gummi Ship on autopilot, they turned around for some motivational therapy.

"Come on, Sora," Donald said, "You can't keep beating yourself up every time something goes wrong, or we'll never get anything done."

"Besides," Goofy added, "Just because Xehanort got a head start going after the Princesses doesn't mean we can't catch up. We'll rescue them all from Xehanort eventually, just like last time."

"But last time we didn't even know that the Princesses were there in Hollow Bastion, or even what the Princesses of Heart were," Sora replied glumly.

"Don't try to play that card Sora," the duck retorted. "We didn't know for a fact that they were in Hollow Bastion, but we still had a pretty good idea of it because we knew that Maleficent had taken Alice and Jasmine, and we figured that when we found Maleficent we would find the Princesses."

"And I think I know what's really got you upset," Goofy put in. "You're scared that since Xehanort has been capturing the Princesses so easily, he'll be able to just walk into Master Yen Sid's tower and kidnap Kairi, and you won't be able to protect her." Sora nodded silently before putting his head in his hands.

"Yeah," he admitted. "I know she's learning to fight with the Keyblade so she can defend herself but she's still a beginner. And even if she wasn't the Organization's in a league of their own at this point and I just don't know what we're supposed to do…."

"Well," Donald said, trying to cheer the young man up, "the only thing we can do for now is hope we get lucky, bring the rest of the princesses back to the tower as fast as possible, and trust that Master Yen Sid's shields will hold."

"I guess you're right," Sora replied as he looked up, wiping his eyes a bit. "There's not much else we can do at this point. So where's the next world with a Princess of Heart?" But before either of his friends could answer the ship rocked and sirens began to blare as Sora flew up out of his seat and landed face first on the surface of the cockpit's observation dome. His eyes widened when he saw the a massive ship – the kind that traveled by water, not through space – sailing through the lanes between past where the Gummi Ship had previously been sailing.

"What happened?" Goofy asked as Donald scrambled over from where he'd fallen to make sure Sora was okay. "Is it the Heartless?"

"I don't think so," Sora groaned in reply as Donald helped him to his feet. "I saw a wooden ship sailing past. It looked like Captain Hook's pirate ship, but different. Whoever it was probably didn't see us."

"So what's the damage?" Donald asked as Goofy went over to the main console to check the readouts.

"The good news is the ship's fine," he announced. "Our shields just took a beating and we've got a few dents in the hull that can be hammered out easily enough. The bad news is we got knocked way off course, we're caught in the gravity of another world and the engines went offline after we got hit so we can't pull up until all our systems reboot." There was no question of if they were going to be stranded or not. Gummi Ships were designed to withstand crash landings such as this.

"Alright everyone," Donald cried out as the trio scrambled into their seats. "Buckle up. It's going to be bumpy." With the engines down all Donald could do was steer as the ship accelerated through the atmosphere of the world. "Do we know which world it is?" he asked as they approached the ground and the minimum altitude for the ejector seats to automatically jettison. If they were going to land in a world they had been to before, it would be good to know which one before they were ejected from the cockpit.

"Olympus," Goofy called out from his seat near the navigation computer.  _Oh Good, the Coliseum,_ Sora thought to himself as the dome retracted and the three travelers were ejected into the air.  _At least it's somewhere familiar. Maybe Phil, Hercules, and Meg can help us get to the Gummi Ship's crash site faster._ The three watched their Gummi Ship crash into a mountainside before they drifted down below the clouds, blissfully unaware of the danger coming after them.

* * *

#### The World That Never Was - Altar of Naught

#### July 9, 2015

"They're headed for Olympus," Master Xehanort said as he opened his eyes. "Make sure that they do not return."

"And what makes you think I'll help you," his guest retorted. The old man smiled. He knew any alliance made with the feared "One – Winged Angel" was tenuous at best, but with his vessels and incarnations occupied elsewhere he was forced to turn to outside assistance in eliminating this three pests. Still, there was no harm in outsourcing the murder of the young boy who had interfered his plans for three years to someone of Sephiroth's skill and reputation.  _If you've got to make alliances, there are far worse options,_ he thought to himself before addressing the warrior.

"Because my allies have been monitoring the progress of all the so-called "heroes," and your enemy aided King Mickey of Disney Town in repelling an attack by my rival, Maleficent. Her group's retreat from Disney Town knocked your targets off their intended course and toward Olympus. He will likely seek to aid them and leave Maleficent to the mouse."

Sephiroth paused, contemplating whether or not to accept the job. Up until two years ago, he'd spent the years since the fall of Radiant Garden hiring himself out as a mercenary for the highest bidder. He'd done a few jobs for Maleficent early on in her campaign, assassinating potential rivals on her behalf and scoping out potential targets in exchange for leads on Cloud's location. Sephiroth's plans would be easier to fulfill when he knew where Cloud was and could keep tabs on him. Even if Cloud failed to show up on Olympus, he had no desire to tangle with Maleficent's re-forged circle of allies.

"If he doesn't come to Olympus," he told Xehanort, "I'll be coming for you next." And with that, he was gone in a burst of darkness and feathers. After he left, the old Keyblade Master smiled his insidious grin.

* * *

 

#### Mount Olympus – Mountain Slopes

#### July 10, 2015

Sephiroth grinned maliciously. It felt good to be hunting again. He hadn't killed anything since Xehanort had hired him to kill some purple – skinned warlord with delusions of godhood the old Keyblade Master considered a potential rival, and that had been a year ago. He was eager to add a few more kills to his resume, especially a Keyblade Wielder.  _Now all I have to do is set my trap, and wait for them to walk into it,_ he thought to himself.

Though he could not sense the vessel itself, he had arrived on this world in time to see a large flaming object that could only be his targets' so-called "Gummi Ship" streak across the sky into the clouds surrounding a massive mountain. Figuring that his targets would have ejected by that point and could see the general direction their ship landed in, he decided that rather than try to track them down (which would be a challenge in a world this large), he would wait for them at their ship and kill all three in one strike.

An earth shaking roar distracted the silver – haired assassin from his thoughts of preparing an ambush. Sephiroth looked down the slopes of Olympus to find a massive stone golem climbing the mountain.  _Lythos,_ he thought to himself.  _The Titan. One of five that dwell on this world. They are allied with Hades, and since Hades is part of Maleficent's cabal, the Titans should be considered her allies by extension. The fact that they're throwing such a juggernaut at the gate of Olympus means that they're probably still in the market for a new base of operations since they lost Radiant Garden three years ago._

Not wanting to get involved in the struggle between Maleficent and Xehanort, Sephiroth decided that the best way to eliminate the Key bearer and his companions was to wait until they'd toppled this giant – and given their persistence in helping out those around them, he knew they inevitably would – and annihilate them when their guards were down. Satisfied with his new plan, the assassin slipped into the shadows to wait for his victims to arrive.

* * *

The trio in question were currently battling a horde of Minotaur – like Heartless near the base of the mountain. At first it had only been one, until it had pulled out a golden horn that it used to summon more like it. Now the three heroes were attempting to eliminate the monsters before they could spread out and start attacking innocent people. One of them managed to break away from the pack while the Sora, Donald, and Goofy were busy with its fellows and made a beeline for the nearby town. But before it could even leave the clearing, a lone figure came charging in, destroying the beast in a single punch.

"Herc!" Sora called out when he saw the new arrival as the man pulled out a sword before slicing his way into the swarm. With the help of their old friend Hercules, the Heartless were quickly destroyed in a matter of minutes. Once the last monster was destroyed, the four friends came together to talk.

"Hey guys," Hercules began. "It's been a while."

"Yeah," Sora replied. "Almost two years. So how've things been going for you?" Despite the urgency of getting to their ship, talking to their old friend helped distract Sora from his earlier moping.

"Pretty well for a while," the demi-god answered. "But recently the Heartless have been appearing more and more frequently."

"It's probably because Xehanort's on the loose," Goofy explained.

"Who?" their friend asked, confused. Goofy quickly covered his mouth and the three travelers turned to look at each other. Donald was looking back and forth at the two of them reminding them that they weren't supposed to interfere with the affairs of other worlds or tell them about the Heartless. However it was Sora's look which said "With Xehanort out there we need all the help we can get, and the "no meddling" rule never stopped us anyway," that convinced Goofy that they should tell as many people as they could about Xehanort. So he explained to Herc everything about the current conflict – the existence of other worlds, the Keyblade, the Princesses of Heart, and the genocidal madman willing to trigger the apocalypse out of sheer curiosity.

"I can't believe that one rogue Keyblade Master has been the cause of so much pain and suffering," he said when Goofy finished. "I'd be happy to help bring this tyrant down however I can."

"Our ship was built to survive a crash landing," Sora began as he pointed at the nearby mountain, "but it crashed at the top of that mountain."

"On Olympus?" Herc asked. "That's where my parents live. I'm busy keeping the Heartless from attacking the town over here, but when you get to the top just tell them that you're friends of mine and that your ship crashed. They should let you right in." The four of them shook hands before an ear-splitting roar shook the earth. Their jaws dropped when they turned to see the Rock Titan climbing the slopes of the mountain.

"I thought that thing was destroyed," Hercules said in shock while Sora, Donald, and Goofy took off running with determined looks on their faces.

"Don't worry!" Sora shouted back. "We beat that thing before and we can do it again."

Hercules smiled as he watched his old friends recede into the distance to face the titan.  _They've got that titan handled,_ he thought to himself as he headed off to patrol the nearby village for Heartless.  _They probably won't even have to tell my parents that I sent them there. All they need to do is defeat Lythos and they'll be welcomed with open arms._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sephiroth is a story boss in this fic. Fun. In all seriousness, I felt (with the help of reading through the franchise's WMG page on TV Tropes) that having Sephiroth playing an active role in the story was a nice evolution of his role in the series. In KH1 he was a non-canon bonus boss who has no contribution to the story whatsoever. In 2, he's still a bonus boss but is part of a small subplot that impacts the story. Actively contributing to the story and being a main story-mode boss felt like the logical next step for him. As the second-to-last paragraph indicates, I will be digging into the backstory of the whole Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, and Zack subplot. I will be coming up with answers to questions like "Why did Sephiroth kill Zack at the end of BBS?"
> 
> For those of you who understood that reference at the beginning, yes. Sephiroth did what you think he did. There are Marvel elements in later fics in this universe, but Big Hero 6 is the only one directly important to the plot of this fic, since it was originally written to stand on its own. Nothing will be left hanging in this fic. Any references to events planned for sequels are deliberately written to be vague enough that they don't feel like they're setting anything up, yet also serve to fill in a bit of what Maleficent and her original KH1 group were up to between games.


	11. Road to a Hero

#### The Lanes Between – Jolly Roger

#### July 10, 2015

"If the brat defeated the rock titan back when he first got his hands on that Keyblade, what chance does it stand against him now?" Captain Hook asked as he, Maleficent, and Hades stood around the old holographic projector table they used to use back in the old days when it was just the three of them plus Ursula, Oogie, and Jafar hunting the Princesses of Heart while using the Heartless to spread their reign across the known worlds. It felt good to have some of the old gang back together again, he realized as his ship sailed through space towards their next destination.

"Lythos is merely a distraction," Hades replied as the projector showed the three "heroes" who had quickly become a thorn in their sides and remained lodged there for the past three years. "We have multiple spies scouting candidates for our new stronghold. We don't stand a chance at seizing Olympus but making those fools think that we want it as our base will help throw them off our scent, allowing us to take our real prize undetected and unopposed."

"Precisely," Maleficent confirmed as the view once again shifted to show the events currently transpiring in Port Royal. "And with that bumbling oaf Pete leading the other Keyblade wielders on a wild goose chase, we're free to move about unhindered.

"I must say," Hook added as he leaned back in his desk chair, "it's fun having the old gang back together. What's left of us at least. Good riddance to Oogie Boogie but the other three really livened up the place. If only we could get the only one of those three still alive back on our side."

"We made a gamble by sending our old friend to barter with the so-called "Mad Titan," and we lost," the green-skinned witch replied as she deactivated the projector with a wave of her hand. "Now he's been incarcerated in the dungeons of his homeland. Unless our plans for the Book of Prophecies fail and we're forced to resort to Plan B, I have no desire to start a war with his people." The conversation was interrupted when a squeaky voice came over the ship's primitive intercom.

"Captain," Dr. Jacques Von Hamsterviel called from the hold where he was examining the machine they'd found in orbit over Disney Town. "My analysis of the disk is complete and I've found a few things that I believe Maleficent will want to see." After the Jolly Roger and the Flying Dutchman split up near Port Royal, Maleficent had used a corridor of Darkness to acquire a computer that could read the disk they'd found inside the robot, allowing the gerbil – like alien to dissect and study their find.

"Very well," Hook replied. "We'll be down momentarily." He smirked when he noticed Maleficent turn a darker shade of green as Hades leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before the three founding members of what they used to informally call the Hellfire Club headed made their way through the bowels of the ship to see what the mad scientist had found.

* * *

#### Mount Olympus – Mountain Slopes

#### July 10, 2015

"Take that!" Sora shouted as he hurled his Keyblade at the Rock Titan before it came circling back to his hand. Catching up to the beast had taken a few hours of climbing and fighting Heartless along the way, but they'd managed to catch up to the lumbering beast by nightfall before it reached the gates of Olympus. Using a new summon spell the Fairy Godmother had taught him before leaving the Castle of Dreams, the young Keyblade wielder conjured an enchanted train that he, Donald, and Goofy were using to travel around the behemoth to reach its weak points.

 _I've come a long way since I first got the Keyblade,_ he thought to himself as he hurled his weapon at the giant's incoming fist, knocking it back as the magic train swerved to avoid its flailing arm.  _When I first started individual spells took up so much of my energy, but now I'm casting spells and summoning enchanted constructs without even breaking a sweat._ Although consummately humble by nature, Sora was still proud of his accomplishments with the Keyblade. Returning his focus to the battle at hand, he continued flinging the Keyblade at the gargantuan stone warrior while Donald blasted it with Firaga spells. Goofy couldn't cast magic and his shield didn't magically return to his hands like the Keyblade did with Sora, so he just held on to the back of the train for dear life.

After a few hours witling away at the titan's armored body, the monster finally fell. The magical train glided back to the ground to let the trio off before disappearing in a flash of light. The three heroes could see their Gummi Ship from here, but before they could resume their trek for their ship, Sora stopped. A few steps further Donald stopped too, leaving Goofy continuing toward their goal, oblivious to his companion's pause. Sora looked around, trying to figure out what was causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. He hadn't felt that way since… his eyes widened.

"Get down!" He hollered as he sprinted forward and tackled his two friends to the ground seconds before a ten-foot long katana slashed through the air where Sora's neck used to be. With reflexes honed from three years of experience he leaped up just in time to block Sephiroth's blade. Donald quickly shot a Blizzaga spell at the silver-haired warrior as Sora blocked another rapid series of strikes. Goofy was the slowest one to get up, barely managing to bring his shield up before Sephiroth brought his blade down. But before the balde made contact, the man paused.

Confused, Goofy hastily backed up to where Sora and Donald stood, forming a circle. For some reason Sephiroth was no longer paying attention to them. Instead, he was looking up at the top of a nearby cliff, as if waiting for something to appear.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," he called out when a blone, spiky-haired man appeared at the top.

"As if I'd let you run loose, Sephiroth," Cloud fired back as he leapt down to face the embodiment of his inner darkness. Words did not need to be said as the battle against Sephiroth quickly evolved from three against one to four against one.

The battle itself lasted a little less than an hour before Sephiroth finally decided to withdraw and fight another day. When he was gone, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Cloud exchanged greetings as the gods and goddesses of Olympus came down the mountain to congratulate them on their success. Despite the group explaining why they were there and that they needed to hurry to protect the remaining free princesses, it was several hours before the four of them could sneak away from the celebration to discuss what had happened at Disney Town.

"So you guys created a simulation of our first adventure on a computer?" Sora asked to clarify that he understood everything.

"Yeah," Donald replied. "Jiminy found a message at the back of his journal that he didn't write, so we digitized the contents of the journal to solve the mystery."

"And Maleficent stole the computer with the journal on it because she thinks that it's somehow connected to these ancient books that are part of the legend of the Keyblade War?"

"It looks that way," Cloud answered as the quartet walked over to their ships. "Your friends are following Maleficent now, but with both Xehanort and Maleficent running around, we decided that there's no point in worrying about interfering in the affairs of other worlds anymore. Their machinations require us to interfere in order to stop them anyway, and we need all the help we can get."

"Yeah," Goofy agreed as they reached their ship and Donald went inside to get the engine up and running. "We were talking about that on the way up. Hercules already offered to help us, but the problem is the amount of Gummi Ships in the worlds is limited."

"Leon told me he'd talk to Cid about that," Cloud replied as the trio's ship roared to life. The four were just about to say they're goodbyes when they all stopped as they sensed another ripple in the universe. Another princess captured.

"We need to get going," Sora said quickly when they recovered from the shock. "Before any more princesses get captured."

"Good luck," Cloud called out as the three heroes raced aboard their Gummi Ship to find the next princess before Xehanort.

"Thanks," Sora shouted back before the doors closed and the ship took off, heading off to make up for lost time. He could only hope that this time they might actually get lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud's unexpected arrival will be explained when we switch back to Riku, Mickey, and Aqua next chapter. 
> 
> 11/8/17: This fic was one of my earliest attempts at fanfiction, and I didn't really have a lot of confidence in myself as a writer, particularly when it came to writing action scenes. So I tended to gloss over the battle sequences while I was writing this fic, feeling that I wouldn't be able to do justice to what I was imagining in my head. Especially with Sephiroth. So, since this fight was just supposed to be Sora Donald and Goofy barely hanging on as he ambushed them, I chose to focus more on the trio's scrambling to defend themselves until Cloud showed up.


	12. Port Royal

#### The Lanes Between – Cid's Gummi Ship

#### July 9, 2015

"So what do you think?" Leon asked Cid over the ship's long range communicator. Mickey and the others had followed Maleficent's group to Port Royal while Cloud had taken the scout ship down to Olympus when the witch's get-away pirate ship rammed into Sora, Donald, and Goofy's Gummi Ship, knocking it off course. That left Leon and Yuffie flying back to Radiant Garden alone. But before the groups parted ways, they had discussed the idea of forming an alliance between the people of different worlds to defend themselves against threats like Xehanort and Maleficent. After everyone split up. Leon had called Cid to see what he thought. Despite the progress in rebuilding their world physically, the people of Radiant Garden had yet to come up with a form of government to manage the day to day affairs of the city, leaving the restoration committee leadership as the governing body of the world by default. Once the city was fully reconstructed, they would figure out who should be in charge of their restored home. But for now, Leon and the other founders of the committee were in charge.

"It's a bold move," Cid finally answered. "And against the whole world order thing."

"Since when was that an issue?" the warrior retorted. "What good is keeping the worlds disconnected if all that does is leave them defenseless against the likes of Maleficent?"

"Point taken," the engineer fired back with a chuckle. "Merlin's not here, but Aerith, Tifa, and I were talking about this after you left, and they all think it'd be a good idea. We don't even need to put it to a vote when we both know the outcome."

"Great," Leon said as Yuffie piloted the Gummi Ship towards their next destination. "Yuffie and I will start going around the known worlds to see if we can get people to join this little coalition."

"Sounds good to me," Cid replied. "You two be careful out there, alright?"

"We will old man," Yuffie shouted from the pilot's seat as Leon turned off the comm before Cid could launch into a rant calling Yuffie a brat with several profanity-based adjectives attached. "So where to first?" she asked as Leon walked over from the communications console.

"We can already count on Disney Town and the Mysterious Tower joining this little alliance. Cloud's already on Olympus and the others are headed for Port Royal. Let's see if we can try Halloween Town first."

* * *

#### Port Royal – Tortuga

#### July 9, 2015

"Why are we here again?" Aqua asked as the four Key bearers stood outside a seedy looking tavern. She had seen many places like this in the course of her training with Master Eraqus, and every time the behavior of the scum within disgusted her. She knew from what Mickey and Riku had told her that Sora had made friends in this world but why they needed to come to such a wretched hive in order to find them was a mystery to her.

"One of the people Sora met who he said might be able to help us is a pirate captain. If Maleficent's group is active on this world, then he'll most likely have at least heard about it."

"Alright," she replied grudgingly. Although, like Mickey, she had come to accept that darkness was not as terrible as her late master claimed, she wasn't entirely comfortable with the moral grey areas that Lea and Riku seemed to thrive on in their work. But then again, she thought to herself, I guess there's always got to be someone who has to do the dirty work when someone more closely aligned with Light like Kairi and Eraqus can't. "Let's go get this over with then."

With that, she, Riku, Lea, and Kairi walked into the tavern. Since Ansem didn't have any combat experience he and Mickey stayed behind aboard the Gummi Ship. While they had decided after conferring with Leon and the others that preserving the world order didn't matter with so many would-be conquerors on the loose, they felt that with the balance of power shifting towards Darkness, the enchantments in Mickey's clothing that made him appear normal to the residents of each world they visited. Since they'd be going around telling people about different worlds left and right soon enough this didn't seem like it should be a problem, but from what Sora had told Riku about Port Royal, the governing bodies of this world were hostile toward anyone who didn't share their world view. Given that, no one in the group wanted to risk making contact with the government here for fear of their reaction.

Riku and Lea walked into the bar while Aqua and Kairi hid on the roof in case the boys needed back up. That and – due to the inebriated nature of the crowd inside – neither of them wanted to start a brawl by chopping off the arm of the first drunken sailor to try and fondle them. Inside the two Keyblade Wielders saw in the corner a fat man sitting at a table with a sign on the support pole next to it inviting sailors to join the crew of the Black Pearl. When Riku noticed this, his eyes narrowed, recognizing the name of Captain Jack Sparrow's ship from Sora's stories of Port Royal. He led Lea towards the table in time to see a man walk up to the table to ask about joining the crew.

"And what makes you think you're worthy to crew the Black Pearl?" they heard the fat man ask.

"I've always wanted to sail since I was a little boy," the man at the front of the table replied. "I've just wanted to sail the seas forever."

"Sooner than you think," the fat man said, gesturing to the paper on the table. "Sign the roster." When that man left the table Riku moved in before anybody else could come up.

"Excuse me," Riku began. "We're looking for Jack Sparrow."

"That's Captain!" a voice called out from a bench all the way in the far corner behind the table. "Captain Jack Sparrow, at your service," a man with long dreadlocks and a large triangular hat who matched Sora's description (and Jiminy Cricket's photographs) of the pirate captain they were looking for strode up to the table. "You two strange gentlemen seem familiar somehow," he told the two visitors. "Have I threatened your before?"

"No," Riku answered. "We're friends of Sora. I'm sure you remember him." Jack did a double take just as he was about to grab another bottle of rum.

"Oh yes," the pirate replied. "Hard to forget such a cheerful and sickeningly noble young lad like that. Oh and his enchanted blade, too. Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to have any yourselves would you?" Reluctantly, the two off-worlders summoned their Keyblades.

"Fascinating," Jack remarked as he looked at the two blades. Gibbs was a little surprised, but since Jack had already told him years ago of his search for enchanted blades that could appear in their owner's hand out of thin air, he wasn't as shocked as he could have been. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could get me hands on one of these magnificent blades would you?" Jack asked as he finished squeeing over the sight of a Keyblade.

"Sorry," Lea answered. "The blade has to choose its weilder. You can't just go out and buy one."

"Well then how did you two get yours?" the pirate captain who they could now tell was completely off his rocker asked as he sat down at his bench a few feet from the table. This provided Riku the perfect jumping off point to explain to Jack and Gibbs what they needed to know about the universe and why he and Lea were here. When they were finished both pirates had stunned looks on their faces.

"So Davy Jones has allied with this witch, Maleficent, to aid her in her attempt to conquer all known worlds?" Gibbs asked to make sure he understood the situation. "Meanwhile a madman is going around abducting these "Princesses of Heart" in an attempt to bring about the apocalypse just to see what will happen when the universe is destroyed?"

"Yes and yes," Lea replied as Jack started giggling.

"Well its fortunate mate that I'm recruiting some additional members to me crew to hunt down Davy Jones," Jack said with a smile as he opened up his compass. "I owe him a debt and I can't pay it so I plan to remove it by killing him. If you can provide me with the means to start exploring other worlds after he's dead, I'll let you all come along so you can deal with this marauding witch. Savvy?"

"Sounds fair," Lea answered as Riku gave him a glare, signaling that they would be discussing the ethics of giving a wanted criminal access to Gummi technology later. Returning to the current situation, he continued. "So how many recruits do you have for your crew right now?"

"Including the four that came before you," Gibbs replied, "Four."

"We have two friends waiting outside," Riku said. "Once you have the recruits you need we'll let them know we're ready."

"Alright then," Gibbs agreed as another man walked up to the table

"And what's your story?" he asked the newcomer.

"My story…" the gentleman began as Jack looked up from his chair with a look of curiosity and surprise on his face. "It's exactly the same as your story. Just one chapter behind. I chased a man across the seven seas. The pursuit cost me my crew, my commission, and my life." Recognition dawned on Gibbs' face as James Norrington, former commodore of Port Royal reached for the bottle on the table and took a long sip of rum.

"Comodore?" Gibbs asked incredulously, surprised to see the man in front of him.

"No," Norrington replied. "Not anymore. Weren't you listening?" Glaring and leveling a finger at Gibbs he continued. "I nearly had you all off Tripoli. I would have. If not for that hurricane." Riku and Lea exchanged glances. Neither of them knew who this man was, but apparently Jack and Gibbs did. They clearly didn't like each other.

"Dear Lord," Gibbs spluttered rhetorically. "You didn't try to sail through it!?"

"So do I make your crew?" Norrington asked. "Or not? You haven't said where you're going. Somewhere nice?"

Riku and Lea drew their blades as Norrington flipped the table while Jack tried to sneak out by hiding behind a potted plant. The insane pirate captain didn't get very far before Norrington was pointing a gun at his head. When Norrington's attempt to shoot Jack ended up inciting a bar brawl, the captain came over to where Riku, Lea, and Gibbs were crouched behind the table.

"Time to go?" he asked.

"Aye," Gibbs answered, speaking for all three of them. With that, the four of them snuck out the back while trying to avoid the mob, stopping along the way as Jack randomly traded hats with various patrons whenever he saw a hat he liked more than the one he was currently wearing. After meeting up with Kairi, Mickey, and Aqua outside the tavern and exchanging introductions, the group made their way to the docks – though not before Jack made several remarks that caused the two women to punch him in the face. As they were boarding the ship, a woman's voice called out.

"Captain Sparrow?" Jack turned around.

"Come to join me crew lad? Welcome aboard." The woman (who was dressed like a man for some reason that the off-worlders could not determine) continued marching up the pier.

"I'm here to find the man I love." Jack stopped in his tracks while Gibbs turned around, confused by the pronouncement.

"I'm deeply flattered, son," Jack replied, "but my first and only love is the sea."

"Meaning William Turner, Captain Sparrow," the woman replied. This made Jack turn around in shock while a look of recognition dawned on Gibbs' face.

"Elizabeth." Jack hoarsely whispered the woman's name before turning to Gibbs. "Hide the rum," he instructed his first mate. The Keyblade wielders immediately recognized the name from the information on the world and Sora's contacts that Jiminy had provided after the fall of the first Organization.

"You know these clothes don't flatter you at all," Jack told her. "It should be a dress or nothing. I happen to have no dress in my cabin."

"Jack," Elizabeth interrupted. "I know Will came to find you. Where is he?"

"Darling," Jack began. "I am truly unhappy to have to tell you this but, through an unfortunate and entirely unforeseeable series of circumstances that had nothing whatsoever to do with me, poor Will has been press-ganged into Davy Jones's crew." The four Keybearers raised their eyebrows, clearly recognizing that the "circumstances that had nothing whatsoever to do with Jack" were entirely Jack's fault.

"Davy Jones?" Elizabeth asked incredulously as Jack nodded before turning to find Norrington vomiting his liquor over the edge of the dock.

"Oh please," the former commodore said dismissively. "The captain of the Flying Dutchman?"

"You look bloody awful," Jack told him. "What're you doing here?"

"You hired me," the man retorted. "I can't help it if your standards are lax." The four Keyblade wielders, who were standing on the deck of the ship close enough to overhear the conversation but far enough away that they wouldn't be spotted, chuckled. Jack had indeed hired Norrington right before the man had attempted to shoot him. Though Norrington was no longer part of this world's military forces as Gibbs had explained on the walk from the tavern to the pier, that could still change, so since they didn't want the militaries and governments of this world to learn about the existence of other worlds, they were trying to stay out of Norrington's way as much as possible.

Jack, Elizabeth, and Norrington talked on the docks for a few minutes before the three of them finally walked on board the Black Pearl. Gibbs immediately began barking out orders as the crew began preparing to cast off. Once they were underway, the group walked up to where Elizabeth Swan was standing on the upper decks.

"You must be Elizabeth Swan," Riku greeted her as he reached out to shake her hand. "My name is Riku. I'm a friend of Sora's."

"Oh yes," Elizabeth replied. "I remember him. He helped Will rescue me from pirates a few years ago and after that he helped me rescue Will when he went off chasing rumors of a group Sora called "Organization XIII."

"Sora can't help saving people wherever he goes," Riku nodded before introducing the rest of the group. "Is there a place we can discuss things in private without the rest of the crew overhearing?"

"We'll talk in my cabin, then," Elizabeth replied as she led them toward the cabin that Jack had set up for her. Once they were away from the prying eyes of the crew, they began explaining how they knew Sora to break the ice a bit. Jack had arranged for Aqua and Kairi to share the cabin with Elizabeth, so before Riku, and Lea headed back to their own cabin for the night, they filled Elizabeth in on everything, recognizing that while sharing this information with someone like Jack was a necessary evil, Elizabeth and Gibbs could at least be trusted to not to stab them in the back on whim.


	13. Night of the Cursed

#### The World That Never Was – The Soundless Prison

#### July 11, 2015

"What happened?" Master Xehanort asked furiously as his heartless emerged from a corridor of darkness without Snow White in tow. He could sense that another princess had been taken but if she wasn't taken by one of his vessels then who….  _Of course_ , he thought as his time-displaced Heartless answered.

"Maleficent's new cabal happened," "Ansem" fumed angrily. "Grabbed the girl seconds before I could."

"That witch is becoming an obstacle in my designs," the Keyblade Master snapped. "She must be eliminated now. Before she becomes an even bigger thorn in our side."

"Let's not be too hasty," Braig called out from further down the hallway. "She may have one princess, but we all know her plans won't be able to affect us. She knows she'll never be able to achieve her own goals as long as our operation's still running, so she's hoping to use the princesses as bargaining chips to increase her own power. At this point, there's no rush. Either she trades any princesses she grabs to the "Guardians of Light," leaving them all in one place for us to snatch up all at once, or she tries to barter them with us for whatever it is she wants, in which case we kill her. Either way, we'll still get all seven."

"Very well," Master Xehanort grumbled. "But from now on let's limit the number of princesses she captures. The less negotiating power she has, the better."

"Yes sir," Braig saluted exaggeratedly before warping away in a Dark Corridor. After returning to his room to change, he left the castle in another corridor. Stepping out into the jungles of Isla Cruces, he took up his usual sniper's posture at the top of a tree and waited. Like the other vessels and incarnations of Xehanort, he could sense where the princesses were, and they were well aware of the face that Kairi was away from the "protection" of the Mysterious Tower. However Master Xehanort had decided, in an exceptional bit of cruelty, to save her for last in order to demoralize Sora, knowing exactly how much the boy cared for her. However unlike the other vessels, Braig – having submitted to the process willingly – possessed enough free will to follow his own agenda without old baldie knowing what he was up to.

"Alright Kairi," he said to himself as he brought out his guns, sensing that she was nearby. "Time to see how much you remember."

* * *

#### Port Royal – The Black Pearl

#### July 11, 2015

"So," Gibbs asked as he and the Keyblade Wielders waited on the ship for the landing party to return with the Dead Man's Chest. "What kinds of worlds are you all from?" It had taken two days to reach Isla Cruces from Tortuga, and in that time the four Keyblade Wielders had learned that despite his career in piracy, Gibbs was still an honorable man who could be trusted to keep secrets and not cross lines that other pirates were more willing to cross. Deciding to humor him, they began telling him about their home worlds.

The conversation was cut short however, when the man up in the crow's nest shouted down that the Flying Dutchman was approaching. The entire crew scrambled to their battle stations while Gibbs took out his telescope and saw a rowboat heading for the island carrying a single passenger.

"There's only one man that could be," Gibbs said as he directed the four travelers toward the second rowboat. They all knew that he was thinking: with Jones likely attempting to retrieve his heart, Jack, Elizabeth, and Norrington needed backup. "Our friend William Turner has escaped the Dutchman. But Davy Jones'll still be sendin' his crew to retrieve the chest."

"Don't worry," Lea reassured him as they boarded the small boat. "We've got their backs." As the four Key bearers quickly rowed toward the island, Gibbs returned to the deck to oversee the preparations to defend against the Flying Dutchman.

* * *

Meanwhile on the island, things weren't going any better.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked incredulously as William Turner crouched down in from of the infamous Chest.

"I'm going to kill Jones," Will stated matter-of-factly as he turned the chest around to try and unlock it.

"Can't let you do that, William," Jack replied as he pulled out a sword and pointed it at the back of Will's head. "Because if Jones is dead, who's to call his terrible beastie off the hunt, eh?" Everyone glared at Jack as Will stood up. "Now," he continued. "If you please, the key."

"Did I forget to mention our blades also have the power to open any lock?" Lea mentioned sarcastically.

He reached out his hand for Will to give him the key to the chest. Will looked like he was going to give it to him before he pulled out Elizabeth's sword and pointed it at Jack.

"I keep the promises I make, Jack," he said. "I intend to free my father. I hope you're here to see it."

"I can't let you do that either," Norrington added as he pulled out his own sword and aimed it at Will. "So sorry."

"I knew you'd warm up to me eventually," Jack told Norrington with a smile. He moved to shake hands with Norrington but the other man turned his sword on Jack while Will pointed his at Norrington.

"Lord Beckett needs the contents of that chest," the former commodore told them. "I deliver it, I get my life back."

"Ah," the pirate captain said. "The dark side of ambition."

"Oh I prefer to see it as the promise of redemption," the other man retorted. And then the three-way sword fight began, each man fighting against the other two for the key to the Dead Man's Chest.

"WILL!" Elizabeth shouted when her fiancé was kicked back into the sand while Jack and Norrington continued to duel.

"Guard the chest," he told her before rushing back into the fray.

"No!" she shouted indignantly as she began running after the three duelers. "THIS IS BARBARIC! THIS IS NO WAY FOR GROWN MEN TO SETTLE...Oh, FINE! Let's just...haul out our swords and start banging away at each other. That will solve EVERYTHING! I'VE HAD IT! I'VE HAD IT WITH WOBBLY-LEGGED...RUM-SOAKED...PIRATES!" It was at that precise moment that the Keyblade Wielders came ashore and Pintel and Ragetti came up behind them.

"How'd this go all screwy?" they head Pintel ask as everyone stared at the sight of Elizabeth throwing sand in the direction of the duel.

"Well," Ragetti answered. "Each wants the chest for his self don't he? Mr. Norrington I think is trying to regain a bit of honor. Old Jack's looking to trade it to Davy Jones, see? And Turner there, I think he's trying to settle some business between him and his long lost pirate father."

"Sad," Pintel said as the four off-worlders turned back to look at the two, surprised at how they knew all they when they weren't even there for the start of the duel. Before they could discuss further though, Elizabeth collapsed.

"Elizabeth," Kairi called out as the four of them raced over to her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," the woman answered as she got up. "But Will, Jack, and Norrington are being complete imbeciles, so I tried pretending to faint to get their attention. A pity it didn't work."

"I thought that was Will," Lea said. "I saw him walking up the beach through Gibbs' telescope as we were rowing in and I figured from the way you hugged him he was your fiancé." Elizabeth blushed before angrily sitting down in the sand. Seconds later Pintel and Ragetti ran past carrying the chest and going Kingdom Hearts knows where. Aqua quickly took charge of the situation.

"We can't lose track of that chest," she said. "Riku. Lea. Stay here and make sure those three don't kill each other." So the two groups split up, Riku and Lea running to break up the duel while Kairi, Aqua, and Elizabeth racing after the chest.

* * *

#### San Fransokyo – Akuma Island

#### July 11, 2015

"This is a nice place," Hades remarked as he and Maleficent walked through the abandoned corridors of the facility once used by a company called "Krei Tech" to test a crudely constructed teleportation device that, based on news articles they'd read about the debut of this world's local team of superheroes, could create a portal to the Lanes Between. When they'd found this world, a small group of Leroys were dispatched to scout the area for potential places for a new base. While the search was still underway for a new strong hold, the loss of Hollow Bastion had taught Maleficent not to put all her eggs in one basket.

"Indeed it is," she finally spoke as Hades held open a door for her. She gave him a knowing smile before continuing. "Abandoned and off the grid. All we need is to bring in a few generators so we don't alert anyone on this world to our presence and Doctor Hamsterviel should be able to create a decent laboratory here." A squad of Leroys followed the two as they entered the main room of the facility. Although the portals were no longer where they had been built, some of the framework still remained. Hades was the first to voice what both of them were thinking.

"If we can figure out a way to rebuild that portal," he said as the Leroys went up to the control room to access the computer network, "we could turn this room into a hangar for a quick exit in the event this place is compromised."

"Great minds think alike," she replied with just a hint of flirting in her voice before returning to business. "We should get everything moved in as soon as possible then."

"Fine by me," Hades replied before calling out for one of the Leroys to contact Hamsterviel and inform him it was time to move into his new laboratory. "After this," he began, returning his attention to the Mistress of All Evil, "Do you want to grab some dinner before we move on to our next stop?"

"I thought you'd never ask," she answered with a smirk.


	14. He's a Pirate

#### Radiant Garden – Palace Gardens

#### July 11, 2015

 _This is remarkable,_ Jack Skellington thought to himself as he gazed around at the high walls of Radiant Garden.  _I know it's possible to go to other realms but this looks simply amazing. Perhaps I can use this world as inspiration for my ideas next Halloween. After Xehanort and Maleficent have been defeated, of course._ The eight foot tall undead skeleton had come with Leon and Yuffie to Radiant Garden to represent his world in this unprecedented meeting between the governments of different worlds.

Also present at the meeting were a lioness from the Pride Lands, a prince named Eric, and the mayors of Destiny Islands and Twilight Town. While not as big as the meeting could be, Leon felt that it was a good starting point. They had approached the leaders of each of these worlds and explained everything: other worlds, Xehanort and Maleficent, and the Keyblades. Each leader had chosen a representative to send to the meeting, and now everything was ready. With the group seated around the table the committee had set up in the center of the square, it was time to begin.

"Welcome to Radiant Garden," he began. "My name is Leon and as I informed you all before we arrived, we are all in serious trouble. Our worlds are not the only ones in existence, and a madman seeks to bring about the apocalypse for fun. There is a group of heroes dedicated to stopping him. But they can't be everywhere at once, and this leaves our worlds vulnerable to other threats, such as a sorceress named Maleficent, who seeks to conquer all worlds. Originally, the different worlds were kept separate and travel between worlds was restricted only to the heroes dedicated to defending them, but now those heroes are few in number. With dangerous threats such as Xehanort and Maleficent on the loose, it is my hope that by building an alliance between the governments of the known worlds, and sharing resources, technology, and militaries, we can better defend ourselves against these tyrants and invaders. Who here agrees with me?"

One by one everyone raised their hands (or paw in Queen Nala's case). Leon was initially expecting a lot of resistance to the proposed alliance, so seeing this initial group giving the idea their unanimous support surprised him. It warmed his heart to see that other worlds were willing to stand up and lend a hand against the forces of evil that plagued their corner of the universe.

"Well then," he continued after regaining his composure. "That was easier than I expected. The only thing to do now is come up with an official charter for this alliance. Does anybody have any ideas for the name?" After a few minutes of loud discussion between the representatives over what to name the group, the mayor of Twilight Town spoke up.

"Considering the name of my world and the fact that we are standing against such dark forces, I thought it might be a good idea to have a name that gives one a feeling of hope. What do you think of "The Daybreak Coalition"?" Everyone around the table quickly took a liking to the name. As the assembled world representatives began the discussion of formal rules and practices of the Coalition, Leon couldn't help but smile with pride. Everyone here was grateful for everything the heroes of the Keyblade had done, but they couldn't be everywhere. This way, whenever trouble rolled around, the worlds stood a fighting chance.

* * *

#### Port Royal – Isla Cruces

#### July 11, 2015

While Riku and Lea attempted to disrupt the duel on the beach, Aqua, Kairi, and Elizabeth raced through the jungle in pursuit of Pintel and Ragetti. Neither of them could be allowed to double-cross the group and leave with the Chest.

"We got it! We got it!" the two pirates cheered. Suddenly they stopped dead in their tracks when Elizabeth, Aqua, and Kairi stepped out in front of them. Will had taken Elizabeth's sword, but the other two women had their Keyblades ready. Undeterred and confident that they'd be able to out-duel two girls, the two pirates drew their swords. "Hello poppets," they said tauntingly as they advanced on the three young women.

When the two men tried to attack, Aqua and Kairi quickly pairied their strikes and were a fraction of a second away from knocking their attackers unconscious with a single blow when all five of them turned their heads at the sound of clashing swords to find a giant wooden wheel rolling through the trees with Will and Norrington dueling on top, Jack running to catch up, and the two Keyblade Wielders racing along behind trying to cast Stop, Slow, and Blizzard spells on the wheel to slow it down and missing because it kept moving out of range too quickly.

"How hard is it to break up a duel?" Aqua shouted in disbelief as Riku and Lea continued their chase.  _How in Kingdom Hearts did that even happen?_ She thought to herself as everyone just stood there and watched.

"Turns out very," Lea shouted back with his usual snark as they and the wheel passed out of sight. Turning their attention back to the duel, Kairi and Aqua were about to retaliate against Pintel and Ragetti when a hatchet imbedded itself in a nearby tree from the other direction. They all turned around to find Davy Jones' crew of mutated fish-men charging out of the underbrush, lead by a large cat-like creature that Aqua recognized.  _So Davy Jones is part of Maleficent's alliance then,_ she thought as she and Kairi prepared for battle. Pintel and Ragetti handed Elizabeth their swords and picked up the chest. They tried to run but accidentally banged the chest into a tree, knocking it out of their hands. That left the three ladies to fend off the monsters on their own.

Meanwhile the duel on the wheel was getting even crazier as Jack climbed inside in an attempt to grab the key hanging from the peg in the spokes. Will was knocked down by Norrington and grabbed it first however, reaching to pull himself towards it while parrying blows from both Jack and Norrington. Eventually both men were dueling on the inside while the Keyblade Wielders could only stare in silence at how over the top this was getting as they ran to catch up.

Back in the jungle Aqua and Kairi were in another area of the jungle fighting Pete, an ally of Maleficent whom Elizabeth remembered from Sora's visit to Port Royal two years ago, leaving her and the two pirates to fend off the fish-men. They were doing a pretty good job as she, Pintel, and Ragetti passed the two swords between them as they dueled. However they were so busy fighting for their lives they failed to notice a fish-man with a conch shell around his head run off carrying the Chest. He didn't get very far, however, before Jack – who had fallen off the wheel moments ago – lobbed a coconut at his head, knocking it clean off.

Jack quickly grabbed the chest and ran off while the thing's still living head told its body to follow the sound of its voice.

"Oh shut it," he told the head as he unlocked the chest and removed Davy Jones' still beating heart. He took a moment to admire it before shoving it inside his shirt when the fish crew approached. Pintel and Ragggeti grabbed the chest as they ran ahead to escape the angry fish-men as Elizabeth kept stabbing them with the swords.

* * *

_I hope I'm not too late,_ Kairi thought nervously as she walked through the tropical jungle. She and Aqua had been dueling Pete when one of the cat's fire bombs blasted her several yards through the underbrush. Now she was following the sound of clashing swords band explosions in the hopes of getting back into the battle. She had no doubt that Aqua could handle Pete on her own – she was a Master after all – but she felt useless when she was just walking through the jungle when everyone else was busy fighting. Her train of thought was interrupted when a bolt of plasma struck the ground in front of her feet.

 _Just great,_ she thought to herself as a ring of plasma bolts surrounded her. She had read Jiminy's records and she knew what this meant. Braig had come for her.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," the sniper remarked as he leapt from his treetop perch and landed right in front of her. Kairi quickly drew her Keyblade. If the Organization wanted to capture her again they'd have to fight her first.

"If you're here to grab me again, I promise it will not be as easy as the last time," she retorted.

"Relax," the one-eyed man replied with a sneer. "I'm on your side."

"As if I would believe that after what you did to Sora," she snapped back.

"I accepted Xehanort's heart willingly, so that gives me a bit more free will than the others," he replied. "I didn't want to hurt your boyfriend, but you taught me that defending the light always involves and element of risk and sacrifice."

"What? What are you talking about?" Kairi asked, now confused.

"So you really don't remember, do you?" the man questioned curiously.

"About my life in Radiant Garden? Barely anything," she answered. "I was four, and given how traumatizing your big Heartless invasion was, I'm surprised I remember any of it at all."

"That's not what I meant," Braig interrupted. "But I guess the answer is no. Before I go, let me offer you a piece of advice."

"About how I should just surrender myself to the Organization to make things easier? No thanks," Kairi snapped.

"No," Braig replied. "You can't beat Xehanort if you keep running around blindly with no clue about how everything fits together. If you want to fully understand the truth about the Keyblade War, you're going to have to unchain yourself in order to access the information you need."

"What does that even mean?" Kairi was getting frustrated with the riddles the man kept spouting.  _What information? And what is unchaining?_

"Check out that old sorcerer's library when you go back there," he replied before vanishing in a corridor of darkness. "That'll point you in the right direction. See you later, Ava."

Braig's cryptic riddles left Kairi terribly confused.  _What does he want?_ She thought to herself as she kept walking toward the sounds of combat.  _And why did he call me Ava? Never mind, he's probably just trying to play mind games like he did with Sora. I'll talk to Master Yen Sid when I get back to the tower_   _but he was probably just trying to mess with my head._ However her thoughts returned to the matter at hand as she walked out onto the beach.

She walked out of the jungle to find a massive battle underway between their landing party and Davy Jones's crew. She ran into the fray and started cutting through the fish-men with ease. She smiled a humorous smirk at the sight of Will climbing out of the the waterwheel he, Jack, and Norrington were dueling on earlier, only to dizzily flounder through the shallow water toward the battle. Aqua rolled in riding on a massive ball of ice containing a frozen Pete, which imbedded itself in the sand. Riku and Lea ran over as they fended off the mutated crewmen to discuss what their next move would be.

Aqua sent Lea to inform Jack of their departure and pulled out the Gummi Radio Communicator to inform Mickey of Pete's capture and that they were almost ready to go.

"But what about Jack's thing with Jones?" Kairi asked, wondering why they were just going to abandon Elizabeth. The three ladies had bonded a bit during the trip from Tortuga, and neither wanted to just abandon them.

"These guys know how to handle themselves," Riku answered. "Besides, Jack already took the heart out of the chest and we have bigger fish to fry right now." Grudgingly the rest of the group agreed, knowing that Pete could be interrogated on Maleficent's plans once he was thawed out and incarcerated, and with Davy Jones' heart, Will and Elizabeth could use the chest to weaken Maleficent's influence in this world.

Norrington ran off with the chest and the rest of Jones's crew followed. Lea ran over to the rest of the group.

"Norrington's buying us time to leave," he said quickly as Jack's group boarded their rowboat to take them back to the pearl. Riku quickly commed Mickey to tell him they were ready to go, and the four Keyblade Wielders departed Port Royal with their prisoner in a flash of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A large part of my inspiration for writing this series was the [ Rebirth Theory I found on KHInsider forums](https://forums.khinsider.com/kingdom-hearts-iii/194630-rebirth.html), that Braig references here.


	15. Agrabah

#### The Lanes Between – Jolly Roger: Captain's Cabin

#### July 11, 2015

"So what exactly do we know about this Book of Prophecies?" Hook asked as what could now be considered the inner circle of their new empire sat in his cabin going over the latest developments following their capture of Snow White to use as a bargaining chip. Maleficent looked up at the three men in the room. Besides herself and Pete she had only told one of them about the connection she'd deduced existed between the Journal and the Book of Prophecies. And he chose to speak first on her behalf.

"Not much, I fear," the man in black replied. With Pete off on Port Royal and unlikely to return (Maleficent had intended for it to be a suicide mission, but she'd taken steps to minimize the damage he could inflict if captured and interrogated), her raven Diablo had transformed into his human form for the meeting. The raven had been her constant companion for decades now, ever since she had saved him from being killed by a hunter and his dogs and granted him the power to shapeshift. He stayed in his avian form in the presence of their enemies if he could avoid it in order to maintain the element of surprise when operating in his other forms, but with Pete gone he no longer had any need to hide his abilities among allies.

"What we do know, however," Maleficent spoke from her seat at Hook's desk, "is that like the journal that cricket uses to chronicle the travels of Sora and his companions, the book possesses the power to create simulations of other worlds. We simply need to find out what the connection is between them."

"My lady," Diablo began, "I believe I may have something of an idea." His mistress raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Go on," she said, intrigued.

"While we're gathering research on the Book," the raven-man continued, "We should send a spy back to Disney Castle to find out where the cricket obtained the book in the first place. Our spies told us back when everything started falling apart that Mickey had left the castle before the duck and dog did, so Minnie Mouse must have some record of where the book came from."

"What a marvelous idea," Maleficent said with a malicious smile on her face. They could not know whether or not this plan would generate results, but at least they had a point from which to start their investigation.

* * *

#### Agrabah – Palace

#### July 11, 2015

"Gawrsh," Goofy said as he, Donald, and Sora disembarked from the Gummi Ship into the corridors of the Agrabah palace. "I think this is our first time actually going inside the palace here in Agrabah." Since this was closer than Beast's Castle, the trio had flown here straight from Olympus. This time, their goals were a little different. Cloud had told them about Leon's plan to form an alliance between worlds, so now, in addition to rescuing the Princesses of Heart, they were now spreading the word about the alliance in order to get more worlds involved in it.

"Yeah," Donald agreed as they walked around in search of Aladdin and Jasmine. "I wonder where everybody is though."

"Wait," Sora whispered. "I think I hear Aladdin and Genie talking. They soon found the duo standing at the bottom of the stairs in what looked like an antechamber of some kind.

"Hey guys!" Sora called out to get their attention. Their friends turned around and grinned when they saw them.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" Aladdin called back. "It's great to see you guys again,"

"And in the same order as last time," Genie added. Sora chuckled. They had gotten into a habit of introducing themselves in the exact same order every time they meet someone. "So," their cosmically-powered blue friend continued as he pulled out a pad of paper. "Would you like the chicken or the sea bass?"

"Huh?" The trio was confused now.

"Genie!" Aladdin groaned. "Sorry guys, he's just been overboard finding out who's having what for dinner to he can tell the caterer how much food to cook."

"Are you guys havin' a party?" Donald asked as understanding smirks crossed their faces at Genie's usual antics.

"A party?' Genie gasped. "Oh no, no, no. Tonight is Aladdin and Jasmine's WEDDING!" At the last line he shouted and leapt into the air, conjuring a miniature fireworks display above their heads.

"Wow," the three visitors all said. "Congratulations, Aladdin."

"Thanks guys," their friend replied. "Hopefully it goes off without a hitch and we don't have to do it a third time."

"What happened the first time?" Sora asked, confused.

"The ceremony was interrupted by an attack from the notorious group of bandits known only as the Forty Thieves," Genie answered dramatically.

"Is everyone okay?" Donald asked worriedly.

"Nobody was seriously injured," Aladdin replied, easing their concerns. He then went on to explain how the forty thieves had been after an oracle, which told him how his father, who had left home when Aladdin was an infant to find treasure and improve the family's life,had ended up a prisoner of the forty thieves. The three listened attentively as he detailed how he had gone in pursuit of the thieves so that his dad could be there for the wedding and congratulated him on rescuing his dad once he had finished telling the story.

After talking to Aladdin about what had been happening in Agrabah, they explained to Aladdin why they had come. Alarmed, Aladdin had dragged them inside to tell Jasmine. After introducing them to her father, the Sultan, the trio explained to the ruler of Agrabah the situation with Xehanort, and the burgeoning alliance between.

"My word," the Sultan gasped. "Aladdin, Jasmine, I'm sorry but you'll have to cancel your original honeymoon plans. You'll go to this sorcerer Yen Sid as soon as the wedding is finished. This way we know she will be safe from this madman." Jasmine looked uncomfortable about the idea of leaving Agrabah again, but she and Aladdin both agreed that there weren't any better options until Xehanort was no longer a threat.

"As for this alliance between the worlds," the sultan continued. "Aladdin, once Jasmine is safe at the Mysterious Tower, I would like you to represent Agrabah in this coalition." Aladdin smiled a bit, his pride in the responsibility cheering him up. The mood sufficiently lightened, the group went back to finishing the wedding preparations and waiting for Aladdin's dad.

While they were waiting, Sora thought back to how their quest was going. Despite their best efforts, they hadn't managed to rescue any of the princesses of Heart, and they were only marginally closer to finding out more about the Key to Return Hearts than when they'd started. The gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus had been able to at least tell them the legends they'd heard of it. However, all those legends told them was that this key needed to be made, not found.  _How are we supposed to make this thing if we don't know how?_ The young man asked himself as he paced the antechamber.  _Wait a minute!_ He thought as an idea popped into his head. After calling Donald and Goofy over to him, he explained his theory.

"Remember back when Riku was possessed by Xehanort's Heartless, he wielded a Keyblade that could unlock people's hearts, made from the hearts of the seven Princesses, right?" he began. Donald and Goofy nodded that they remembered. "But why would a keyblade made from pure light be used for darkness?" This got his friends' attention. When understanding dawned on their faces, he continued. "But that Keyblade was incomplete because Kairi's heart was still in my body. What if the Key to Return Hearts can only be created when all seven Princesses of Heart combine their powers at once?"

Donald and Goofy were stunned at this. None of them had ever really put much thought into that dark Keyblade Riku had used three years ago. Now all they could think about it was why they didn't figure it out sooner?

"We need to tell Yen Sid as soon as we can," Donald whispered. "And get Jasmine back to the tower after the wedding." The three of them agreed and walked back over to join the others in waiting for Aladdin's dad.

"Where is he?" Aladdin asked, frustrated that his dad was late.

"Hakuna Matata," Genie told all as he shapeshifted into a larger version of a familiar warthog the three visitors knew. Sora just shook his head grinning. Of course Genie would travel around to other worlds on his own.

"You know Pumbaa?" Goofy asked, forgetting that Genie had been out travelling at first the last time they'd come to Agrabah.

"Yeah," Genie answered. "We go way back. Anyway, back to Aladdin's dad. My guess says he wants to make an entrance."

* * *

Almost an hour later, however, Aladdin's dad still hadn't shown up.

"Do you think something is wrong?" Jasmine asked as she and Aladdin stood together waiting.

"Genie," the young man began, "Can you find him?"

"I'll sniff him out," the blue man replied before turning into a blue version of Pluto and weading down the hall with his nose to the ground. "I need a scrap of his hair or a lock of his clothes," he said. "Or a shoe," he finished as he came to a stop in front of a man dressed in an red, black, and blue outfit, being held up by a man Jasmine had told them was Razoul, the captain of the palace guards. Genie gasped as he transformed back into his normal form and got up from the floor. Whoever the guy Razoul was holding was, Genie clearly knew him.

"Razoul," the Sultan said to the head of the palace guards. "What is the meaning of this?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked around at

"Your majesty," the burly man replied as he dropped the man he was holding. "Meet the King of Thieves."

"Dad!" Aladdin called out as he raced over only to be held back by two more guards.  _His dad is the King of Thieves?_ Sora thought in surprise as he placed his hands over Donald and Goofy's mouths. This was clearly going to be an emotional moment for everyone here. Meddling or not, it wasn't their place to interrupt.

"We seized him in the treasury," Razoul reported before holding up a golden staff with a green gemstone at the top. "He was after this. Again."  _That must be the oracle,_ Sora guessed inwardly.

"No," Aladdin said, defeat and sadness evident in his voice.

"And this," the captain of the guard continued, uncaring of the princess's soon-to-be husband's emotional distress, "was his accomplice." His men held up a familiar red parrot in chains.  _Why am I not surprised?_ Donald thought to himself as he, Sora, and Goofy glared at Iago.

"Big misunderstanding!" the parrot shouted. "It's just a slap on the wrist and community service kind of thing."

"Now I know why you really came back," Aladdin said, his disappointment with his father evident in his voice and face.

"Your father is the leader of the forty thieves?" The sultan asked incredulously as the man in question looked away in shame.

"Aladdin," Jasmine began, placing a hand on her fiancé's shoulder. "Did you know?"

"I thought I could change him," he said. "I had to try."

"You can change my clothes, Aladdin," his father replied. "You can't change who I am."

"And the law is crystal clear on what me must do," Razoul added with near-sadistic glee.

"Father isn't there another way?" Jasmine asked as she placed a hand on the sultan's shoulder. Sora silently agreed with her.  _He should be punished for the crimes he committed but that doesn't mean that Aladdin has to lose his father,_ the Keyblade Wielder thought.

"I'm afraid there is not," the Sultan replied. "Take the prisoners to the dungeon. For life."

"Sorry Al," Genie said as he, Sora, Donald, and Goofy came up to comfort him once his father and Iago had been taken from the room. "There's some wishes even I can't make come true."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When writing this fic, I saw a lot of people on the internet suggesting ways to add the 2014 live action Maleficent film into Kingdom Hearts, and my response to that was no. Just… No. While I enjoyed the movie by itself (and Angelina Jolie as Maleficent was the perfect choice for the role), I felt that as an origin story for one of the greatest Disney villains of all time, it could have been done better.
> 
> That being said I did like the whole idea of making her raven a shapeshifter. I originally wasn't going to really give him a role to play in the story but after reading two amazing fanfics Remember the Tides and The Tides Go Out on fanfiction.net (a What-If AU fic series where Xion kills Roxas during 358/2 Days instead of the other way around that examines the ways that the canon storyline changes because of this reversal. They're both amazing and I highly recommend them), I came to realize the potential in having Diablo take up Pete's role as Maleficent's primary minion.
> 
> As for the Key to Return Hearts, I was reading up on different fan theories on the subject when I came across the idea that Riku's dark keyblade he used in KH1 while under the control of Xehanort's Heartless was an incomplete version of it, and it was just too good of a theory to pass up because


	16. Arabian Dream

#### Agrabah – Lair of the Forty Thieves

#### July 11, 2015 

"Is everything ready?" the woman's voice was cold and calculating. Sa'Luk respected that about her. She knew what she was doing. Every word and action was deliberated chosen to advance her goals. Taking his eyes off the entrance to the lair, he responded.

"The pieces are all in place," he answered. "I just received word from our spies in the city. Cassim has been thrown in the dungeon. All we have to do now is wait for the inevitable." The plan itself was simple. With the King of Thieves in prison, his son, being the kind-hearted young man that he is, would break him out of prison. Cassim would then predictably find a way to steal the oracle in the chaos of his escape, and return to his old lair to find the thieves had turned on him. Sa'Luk would then force Cassim to use the ancient spirit to lead them to the location of the Hand of Midas. Maleficent and her empire could then use the Hand to create a limitless supply of gold to finance their operations. While they could always steal whatever they needed, paying for smaller things like food and other supplies helped them to keep a low profile.

"Assuming it works," Maleficent countered. Over the years Maleficent had learned to manage her expectations in order to avoid being disappointed. Failure due to circumstances beyond one's control was forgivable. Failure due to overconfidence and habitual incompetence however, was not. Time would tell which of the two would derail the mission.

"It will work," Sa'Luk replied. "The thieves may be incompetent but if we need to travel by water, we'll need dumb muscle to row the boat."  _So, overconfidence it is, then,_  the green-skinned fairy thought to herself as she turned away from her ally.

"It had better," she warned, "Or else you'll be on your own. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to inspect a new base on a world called San Fransokyo." With that, she vanished in a corridor of darkness. Sa'Luk turned back to the ocean and spoke the password to open the path to the lair. It would be easy to win over the remnants of the forty thieves. Once he had their loyalty, the plan would move forward. He wasn't too concerned with finding the Hand. If they failed, he would simply take a squad of the red demons to seize Agrabah itself and use the royal treasury to finance their campaign. An easy victory no matter how it turned out.

* * *

#### Agrabah – Aladdin's House

#### July 11, 2015

Later that night, Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked into Aladdin's old house to find the man himself there, along with Abu, Genie, Carpet, brooding over his father's inability to change. The trio's arrival was greeted with three nods of recognition (and as close to a nod/bow/wave that a sentient flying rug could manage). They knew they shouldn't get involved with someone else's family drama, but they still wanted to support their friend.

"The oracle was right," Aladdin said, his voice a mix of anger and sadness. "My dad was trapped in the world of the forty thieves. Trapped by his own greed. I was stupid to think I could change him."

"You wanted to give your dad a second chance," Sora spoke up from the back. "That's not stupid, Aladdin, anyone would do the same thing in your position."

"Yeah, Al," Genie chimed in, placing a hand on their friend's shoulder. "Trying to show him a better life wasn't stupid. However leaving him alone with the bird, that was definitely stupid." The three off-worlders glared at Genie over the unintentional insensitivity of that last remark, but didn't necessarily disagree with the sentiment that Iago had no doubt goaded him into trying to steal the oracle. The bird may have be on the side of the angels but he and Donald shared a tendency of not thinking clearly when treasure was involved.

"Everything was perfect before he came into my life," Al continued sadly as he leaned against the wall next to the hole that served as a window. "I just want things the way they were." Suddenly he stood up as an idea came to him.

"Genie," Aladdin turned to his blue friend. "I need my father's clothes."

"Al," the blue man replied. "What? Did you wrap your turban too tight? Come on. Why would you wanna dress in the King of Thieves ensemble? Why don't you suggest something that doesn't actually say "Arrest me"?" He nevertheless conjured a duplicate of what Sora, Donald, and Goofy assumed was the outfit Cassim wore as the King of Thieves.

"It fits," the young man commented once he put the cloak on. "Good." Genie quickly turned into a ghostly form that the three heroes guessed was the oracle.

"I'm seeing… I'm seeing… NOTHING in your future if you do this."

"I'm breaking my father out of prison," Aladdin said bluntly as he placed the lower portion of the cloak over his face. "The guards will never know I was there. Tonight the king of thieves will make his most miraculous escape ever. Out of my life."

"It's the cape talking, isn't it?" Genie remarked.

"Aladdin, wait," Sora interrupted before their friend could leave. "You don't have to do things that way. I can use magic to knock the guards unconscious so that we get in and out without making a scene."

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy gasped. He turned to face his friends to address their unspoken concern at his suggestion.

"Guys," he said, "Aladdin is clearly going to do this with or without us. At least if someone like me, Donald, or Genie goes with him, we can use that Sleep spell I learned to keep the guards from spotting him." After a few minutes of discussing the matter, Aladdin changed back into his casual attire before the group headed back to the palace. Once they were inside, Sora and Aladdin slipped away from the group towards the dungeons.

* * *

Meanwhile Cassim and Iago were sitting alone in their cell as rats scurried through the rafters up above. Iago mumbled through his gagged beak while Cassim simply sat glumly in the cell with a look of regret on his face. The duo were surprised when the door opened.

"Who..?" Cassim began, inquiring as to who was there to see them.

"I came to say goodbye," Aladdin said as he stepped out of the shadows, behind him, the young man Iago had identified as Sora in the brief moments that the guards had removed the chains used to gag him came in holding what looked like a giant key.

"Why are you..?" Cassim managed to get out as Aladdin held out his shackles and the boy raised his key. The King of Thieves was rendered speechless when a beam of light shot out from the key to his shackles, which immediately opened for his son to catch before they hit the floor.

"We don't have much time," Aladdin replied while the other young man went to free Iago. "Sora's magic can't keep the guards asleep for much longer. Once we've gotten to the palace gates, you get out." The four of them silently made their way out of the palace and through the city. As the two heroes escorted the escapees out of the city on horseback, Iago tried to convince the duo to come with them.

"I won't do what he did," Aladdin said, gesturing to his father as the group stopped. "I won't run away."

"I never ran away from anything in my life," his father replied.

"You ran away from your family," Aladdin retorted.

"I told you what happened," Cassim tried to explain. "What else could I do? What else can you do?"

"The right thing," Aladdin fired back as he took the dagger his father had given him when he'd left the first time. "You should take this back."

"You can't!" Cassim shouted. Sora winced. If this argument got any louder the guards would be able to hear them all the way from the palace.

"I won't walk out on Jasmine," Al replied calmly as he and Sora remounted their horses.

"Aladdin!" the king of thieves whispered sharply.

"I'm your son," the man said as he and Sora turned around to leave, "but I can't live your life."

"Al, they'll lock you up," Iago pleaded as he flew over from Cassim's horse.

"If there's a punishment, I'll take it," he replied.

"So be it," his dad said angrily.

"But we have the oracle," the parrot continued. "The treasure's just waiting for us!"

"The oracle?" Aladdin turned back to his dad, shocked and hurt that after all the trouble that sentient scepter had caused his dad still stole it anyway. Seriously Iago? The parrot fidgeted under Sora's exasperated glare.

"I had nothing else left to lose," his father explained.

"Yes," the maybe-soon-to-be-prisoner replied sadly. "You did." He and Sora turned their horses around to head back to Agrabah.

"It was supposed to be a father-son outing!" Iago cried sadly. Sora's glare softened up a bit at that.  _It was horrible that Cassim let his greed ruin his chance to reconnect with Aladdin,_  he thought to himself, _but I guess I can understand wanting to finish what you started if it's taken you so long._  He thought back to how long he'd taken to find Riku after he'd sealed the Door to Darkness as an example.  _Cassim still could have just asked to trade something for it after the wedding instead of making a scene by stealing it. I'm sorry Aladdin and his dad couldn't work things out._

"Go with him, Iago," Aladdin said.

"Really?" the bird asked incredulously. "You mean it?"

"Go," Aladdin replied, not bearing any ill will toward the parrot.

"Good luck, kids," Iago replied with a nervous wave as he flew after Cassim before the duo rode off into the night. With that, the two young men turned and headed back to Agrabah.

"Thanks for helping me, Sora," Aladdin said after a few minutes of riding in silence. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Don't worry about it," Sora replied. "I'm just sorry your dad messed up so much."

"Me too," the young man answered sadly. "Me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of Sora and Aladdin sneaking into the dungeons to free Cassim was inspired by Xion and Aladdin doing the exact same thing in [The Tides Go Out](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10107554/1/The-Tides-Go-Out)


	17. Arabian Daydream

#### Agrabah – Palace Balcony

#### July 12, 2015

By the time Sora and Aladdin returned to Agrabah, the guards had already woken up. Razoul, possessing a strong dislike for Aladdin, went to Aladdin's room to confirm his suspicions. Finding both Aladdin and the strange young man who Jasmine had claimed was a friend of hers missing, he had reported the incident to the sultan. When the two young men returned to the palace, the guards quickly dragged them before the Sultan. The four of them, along with Jasmine, Donald, Goofy, Abu, and Carpet, stood on the balcony outside the Sultan's bedroom waiting to see how the impromptu and informal trial would go.

"I know what I did," he said before either the captain or the sultan could say anything. "But please don't blame Sora for my decisions. He only came along to keep me from going through with a more risky plan of getting my father out."

"Alright," the Sultan began as he gestured for the guards to release the Keyblade Wielder. "But frankly, my dear boy, your actions were most disappointing.

"It's tragic your highness," Razoul added. "But the street rat has obviously followed in his father's footsteps. Aladdin is a criminal."

"I object, your honor," Genie replied, turning the balcony into an outdoor courtroom with a snap of his fingers. "I object to that outrageous comment. And I object to a tertiary character having any lines during my courtroom scene. Here." He handed a briefcase to Razoul. "Take this to a higher court. Chao." With a snap of the blue man's fingers, Razoul was rocketed up and out of the palace. "Your honor," he continued, addressing the Sultan. "I'd like to petition a plea of insanity."

"Genie," Aladdin interrupted. "I can handle this myself." He marched over to help his future father-in-law up as the courtroom furniture vanished. "Sultan," he continued with a sigh. "I convinced my father to come here. It was my fault. I would have been better off if I'd never known him."

"Aladdin, you found your father," Jasmine added as she walked over and placed a hand on her fiance's shoulder. "A father who risked his freedom to see your wedding, and you risked everything to help him. Just as I would for my father." The sultan looked thoughtful for a moment before responding.

"Aladdin," he began. "I could not overlook your father's crimes." Everyone braced themselves for the verdict. "But what you have done," the sultan continued, "you did it out of love. And you came back to take responsibility for your actions. Let us put this matter behind us." Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. "I believe we have postponed the wedding long enough," the man finished as he walked back inside as Genie began cheering and leading him back indoors with a giant blue hand. Their celebration was interrupted by a shriek from above. They all looked up to see a familiar red bird streaking toward the balcony.

"Iago!" everyone shouted in surprise as Carpet slowed the parrot's descent and the bird began gasping for breath and babbling incoherently.

"Al! Dad!" he managed to get out in between exhausted gasps.

"Just take a deep breath, Iago," Jasmine interrupted. "Now what about Aladdin's father?"

"It's Sa'Luk!" he cried out. "The guy that Al beat. He's not beat. He's back! And he's got Cassim!"

"Then that's his problem," Aladdin replied angrily. "He chose to go back to that life."

"Al," Genie interjected, "I know your dad made a lot of bad choices, but that doesn't mean you have to."

"He's your father," Jasmine added. "How can you do anything else?"

"I'm being as stubborn as he was," the young man replied sadly after a moment of contemplation. "Show me the way," he told Genie as he turned around. Everyone grinned. It was time to gear up!

* * *

#### Agrabah – Vanishing Isle

#### July 12, 2015

 _Magnificent!_ Sa'Luk thought to himself as he stepped out of the boat onto the shores of the Vanishing Isle. He was quickly followed by 8 red monsters that Maleficent had dispatched to assist him before his group had set off on their voyage.  _Now all we need to do is find the Hand. Once we have that, Maleficent will have all the funding she needs._ Meanwhile a large red and yellow spacecraft flew across the ocean towards the mythical island so fast it nearly broke the sound barrier.

"The Vanishing Isle!" Aladdin gasped as he gazed at the island that had dominated his dad's life through the cockpit bubble of the Gummi Ship. He would have preferred to take Carpet, but Sora had argued that their ship would be able to hold them all.

"It's on the back of a giant turtle!" Jasmine added, astounded. While the Sultan had wanted her to stay at the palace, she had argued that she was safer with Aladdin and the others, and that had settled the matter.

"And never in the same place twice," Aladdin said as the pieces of the legend his father had told him put themselves together in his mind. "Let's get closer," he continued as Donald gently steered the ship.

"TIME TO ROCK AND ROLL DUDES!" Genie shouted as he parachuted in dressed as a shoulder and began firing laser blasts at the remaining thieves. The seven bumbling minions hit the deck as the blue maniac fired in every direction. While Sa'Luk grabbed Cassim and headed the other way, Genie's distraction bought the rest of the group time to disembark. Jasmine and Goofy remained on the ship to ensure that Xehanort couldn't grab her while everyone was distracted with the fighting (Goofy was glad it was designed to block any attempts to board the ship through the Corridors of Darkness. Riku and Mickey had apparently done the modifications and testing during the year the trio had spent asleep after the events of Castle Oblivion.). As much as Jasmine would have preferred to fight the thieves off with her bare hands, she understood that for all her skill in a fight, she, like Kairi, was not yet a match for any of Xehanort's incarnations or allies.

While Jasmine reminded herself to start doing some self-defense training during her stay at the Mysterious Tower, the Leroys, who had taken cover behind the empty structures at the end of the walkway, began to return fire. Genie's barrier spell held the plasma bolts at bay while the other three took care of the seven thieves. Once they were taken care of, Sora and Donald quickly began to cast Reflega to give Aladdin an opening to rescue his father while Genie provided another distraction. While genie flew into the turtle's mouth and did something that caused it to shriek, possibly in pain, Aladdin lunged at Sa'Luk, knocking him unconscious in a couple of hits.

"It took me years to find my father," he said as he stood between the unconscious new King of Thieves and his dad. "I'm not going to lose him again."

"You came to help me?" Cassim asked incredulously as his son undid his bonds.

"How could I do anything else?" the young man asked back. "Now let's get that treasure of yours."

Sora smiled as he watched Aladdin and his dad wake up. But before they could join them in looking for the legendary Hand of Midas, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he and Donald quickly cast Reflega as a blast of Dark Firaga slammed into their shields a fraction of a second later.

"Who's there?" He shouted as he looked around for the source of the fireball.

"Oh really, Sora?" Sora and Donald's eyes widened as a familiar voice shouted back. "I thought it was obvious." Their eyes finally landed on a lone figure standing on the ledge above them. He wore the same outfit Riku had worn when he was possessed by Xehanort's Heartless, wielded Riku's Soul Eater, and even had Riku's face. If Riku hadn't told them what had happened at Castle Oblivion and why they'd spent a year in a coma, they'd have thought the young man in front of them  _was_  Riku. But they knew better.

"You're the clone of Riku that the Organization made at Castle Oblivion, aren't you," Sora asked, even if it was more of a statement instead of a question. They knew this wasn't the Riku they knew. The Riku Replica looked three years younger than the original Riku did now, as if Xehanort had gone back in time to the last time he and Riku had fought and brought him to the present.  _If the "you can only travel to time periods where an incarnation of yourself exists" rule applied to clones and their original, then that's probably exactly what happened,_ Sora thought to himself as the Replica leaped down from the ledge.

"And what if I am?" the fifteen-year-old clone replied harshly. "I don't care what you think of me. It doesn't change the fact that I'm a fake." Up close, Sora could see that in place of Riku's blue-green eyes were the striking yellow-orange eyes of Xehanort. His suspicions confirmed, Sora responded.

"Because even if you're not the original, you still deserve to be your own person," he answered.

"As if you care," the Replica (who Sora decided to refer to as Repliku in his head to avoid getting confused when differentiating between Riku and his clone) fired back. Sora was surprised. He didn't remember much about Castle Oblivion (once Riku and Namine (through Kairi) had explained what had occured there, his memories of the event had been coming back in bits and pieces), but he still remembered that he and Repliku had parted on semi-friendly terms. This hostility from him surprised the young Keyblade wielder.  _Unless Xehanort promised him something in exchange for joining the group._

"I do care," Sora retorted. "I've got a lot of different hearts sharing my body, and one of them was meant to be a copy of me. But even when she was forced to sacrifice herself to help me, she still fought to be her own person. Whatever Xehanort promised you, it doesn't have to involve us fighting."

"YES IT DOES!" Repliku snarled, his voice suddenly taking on an unsettling vibe, as if two people were speaking instead of one, and the second voice was much older and much more powerful.  _The piece of Xehanort's heart inside him must be taking control,_ Sora thought as he and Donald readied their weapons. He barely had time to cast Reflega before the possessed clone lunged at him. After parrying the first few strikes, Sora went on the offensive, driving Riku's doppelganger down the path toward the entrance to the temple. After a few combos, the Replica struck back, knocking Sora into a nearby wall.

"SORA!" Donald shouted before casting Blizzaza at Repliku while the young man recovered.

"I'm alright," the teen responded as he ran cast a Cure spell to heal his injuries. When the replica charged again, Sora parried the strike before launching into a few more combos. The duel began to slip into the predictable back and forth that Sora and Riku's childhood duels on the Destiny Islands with wooden swords. Each possessed enough memories of the other's (or of the original Riku in Sora' case) fighting style to predict and counter their opponents blows.  _Except this time, it isn't a game,_ Sora thought to himself.

After another ten minutes of this, Repliku let out a dark blast that struck Sora in the chest as it knocked the duo backwards.

"You may have prevented me from getting the Princess," Repliku gaped as he stood their panting, speaking once more in his normal voice. "But Xehanort will still win in the end. He always gets what he wants." With that, the clone vanished into a Dark Corridor.

"Are you alright?" Donald asked as he raced over to help Sora to his feet.

"Yeah," the almost-eighteen year-old replied as he and Donald headed back toward the Gummi Ship. As water began pouring out from the plumbing system of the temple as they saw the sea rising towards them. The turtle was submerging again.

"What about Aladdin?" Sora asked as he and Donald were about to board the Gummi Ship.

"Look!" Donald called out as he pointed to the top of the temple before pushing Sora into the ship. "Up there!"

* * *

"After all these years, you finally have your treasure," Aladdin told his dad once they climbed out onto the roof of the chamber where the Hand of Midas once resided.

"This thing? No," his father replied. "It almost cost me the ultimate treasure. It's you, son. You are my ultimate treasure" Aladdin smiled proudly as his dad pulled him in for a hug. "The Hand of Midas can take its curse to the bottom of the sea," he added as he hurled the magical object over the edge of the island. On the edge of the submerging turtle shell, the seven thieves floated scrambled in the water as their boat turned to solid gold and sank.

"I'll explain later," Aladdin told Cassim as the Gummi Ship rose to the summit of the temple and the soon-to-be prince of Agrabah dragged his father aboard.

"Genie!" Aladdin called out as the Gummi Ship turned away to fly back to the city. As if on cue, the giant turtle poked its head back up long enough for their blue-skinned friend to sail out of the turtle's mouth in the form of a Genie-based facsimile of a younger Mickey before his days as King, piloting a replica of Pete's old steamboat from the days when Disney Town used to be called Timeless River.

"Present!" the not-quite-all-powerful Genie shouted as he teleported next to the open Gummi Ship door.

"Let's go home," Aladdin stated as he shared a look with Jasmine. "We have some unfinished business."

"But what happened to Sa'Luk?" Donald asked. They could all see the remaining thieves and red Stitches be swallowed up by a corridor of Darkness. Iago had informed them on the way that he'd overheard Sa'Luk mention working for Maleficent before he'd escaped to warn the heroes. No doubt she wanted to punish her minions for their failure.

"He touched the hand of Midas and got turned into solid gold," Aladdin explained. Everyone cringed at the bandit's fate before the ship flew back to the palace.

A few hours later cheers and miniature fireworks erupted all over Agrabah as Aladdin and Jasmine finally tied the knot. Jasmine's pet tiger Rajah held up her bridal train as she and Aladdin walked down the aisle where Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood near the exit waiting to beam all of them up to the Gummi Ship. Aladdin smiled as he caught his father watching from the sidelines out of the corner of his eye. Since his father was still a wanted man, Cassim couldn't exactly show his face in the palace. However, after being given the whole "other worlds" speech, the former King of Thieves had offered to put his skills as a thief to use as a spy on behalf of the burgeoning alliance in exchange for a pardon and the opportunity to explore the worlds, and the Sultan had agreed.

Once the group had left the chapel, Sora led the group (Plus Abu and Iago. Genie and Carpet stayed behind to defend Agrabah and the Sultan should Maleficent attempt to seize the city) out of the palace (though not before Jasmine tossed her bouquet into the crowd, to be caught be a startled Razoul), where Donald pressed the remote to teleport them up to the ship in a flash of light.

* * *

#### Radiant Garden – High Tower

#### July 11, 2015

 _Why didn't she do it?_ Braig thought to himself as he fumed in solitude over the girl's lack of recognition about what he had told her.  _Of all people to Unchain themselves, why didn't she? Did she not have time or was is just cold feet?_ Not that Braig could blame her if the latter was indeed the case. As harsh as he could be he would never wish this existence on anyone. Not that it mattered. He was Unchained. Cursed to walk the worlds knowing all that had come before and all that would come. To understand the true secrets of Kingdom Hearts. He grinned at the irony of Xehanort going to such extreme lengths to learn the secrets of the Keyblade War, when his most trusted lieutenant had all the answers he was looking for.

The grin, however, left his face when he reflected over how much had gone wrong. The X-Blade shattering into twenty pieces. Xehanort gaining the power of time travel. Instigating another Keyblade War two thousand years before the universe was ready for it. Being Unchained granted Braig a few special abilities, and those abilities told him that there had been Foretellers in the World That Never Was that day when the old man had tried to turn Sora into a vessel. Xehanort was never supposed to learn the secrets that Braig knew as an Unchained, but the presence of two Foretellers among the ranks of the maniac's Seekers of Darkness meant that Braig had no choice but to let enough information slip to allow Xehanort's younger self to time travel all the way back to the last Keyblade War.

While Braig knew that so much had gone wrong, he could adapt. Ava had foreseen something going wrong in the days before the previous Keyblade War. That was why she had asked him and a select few to become Unchained in the first place, but he hadn't had any contact with the others since Marluxia and Larxene bit the dust. He was on his own now. It was up to him to keep Xehanort in check and make sure nothing went wrong when the next Keyblade War finally happened. Deciding to deal with the issue later, he took a dark corridor back to the World That Never Was to check in with the old man, see what was going on, and do what he could to discreetly undermine the madman's schemes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Riku Replica is part of the 13 Xehanorts. I figured that there had to be more to the appearance of the black coated Riku in Riku's side of the Prankster's Paradise story than just a reminder of what he could've been. So naturally I took that scene as a sign that the Riku Replica would come back as part of the Seekers of Darkness.
> 
> So all of those new terms like Unchained, Foretellers, unions, and Daybreak Town comes from Kingdom Hearts X (pronounced key). It's essentially a browser/mobile game that depicts the events leading up to the beginning of the Keyblade War. The things mentioned in that game will become more important. The whole "Unchained" thing comes from the English translation videos of the game that I found on youtube. The player's conversation with one of the Foretellers references "a process called Unchained". It hasn't been defined yet in that game but considering the theory on which a significant portion of this fic is based, I took the idea the name put in my head and ran with it.
> 
> I was debating how soon after the last Port Royal chapter to place the scene with Braig. I ultimately decided that Braig would probably go off somewhere to reflect on how his meeting with Kairi went and it seemed like the perfect time to reveal a little bit of what he's up to, and then reveal the rest of the surprises later. It'll keep readers guessing while also giving a bit of an explanation of Braig's agenda. Any readers who've been on Kingdom Hearts Insider forums will probably start figuring things out soon.
> 
> As for Jasmine not participating in the battle against the forty thieves, there are a few reasons for that, both in and out of universe. In universe, as I mentioned, is because they don't want to risk Xehanort or Maleficent nabbing her while everyone's distracted in the fight. The temple on that island in the movie looks like a maze so they didn't want to risk her being separated from the group. I know, it seems a little weird compared to how Kairi's getting more action despite the threat of Xehanort, but my rationale for that is twofold, 1) The chaos of the battle at the end of the third Aladdin movie is the ideal point for one of the villainous factions to capture Jasmine, but I wanted to throw the heroes a bone after losing to Xehanort the last few times they went to protect the princesses of Heart. 2) Jasmine may be one of the few Princesses of Heart with fighting skills, but she doesn't have as much combat experience as Kairi does, and neither of them are anywhere near the level necessary to beat one of Xehanort or Maleficent's allies/followers in a fight.
> 
> As for how the Gummi Ship got back into orbit during the wedding, I figured that Chip and Dale would have pre-programmed the autopilot with different protocols for different situations, allowing the characters so send it back to orbit or summon it down to pick them up.


	18. Found Memories

#### The Lanes Between – Mickey's Gummi Ship

#### July 12, 2015

She looked at the banquet table that had been set up in the Grand Hall of Hollow Bastion. Seated across the table were toddlers from all over Radiant Garden. Or at least she assumed they were all from Radiant Garden since she was looking at a room from the Hollow Bastion. If she hadn't guessed from the piles of gifts on one end of the table, the large cake and bright balloons were a dead giveaway that she was looking at a birthday party.  _But whose?_ She asked herself as she watched the kids finally sit down. Her eyes went wide with surprise when she noticed that sitting at the head of the table was her.

Not the way she looked now, but her the way she looked when she first arrived on the Destiny Islands at the age of five.  _This must be one of my memories of my life before the Islands,_ she realized as she watched her younger self blow out the candles of the birthday cake. She smiled as she watched her Grandmother bring the first present over from the end of the table for her younger self to tear open with her tiny hands. She suddenly felt nostalgic when, from the other end of the table, she saw herself take the small necklace that she'd worn all her life – and still wore to this day – out of the small box. Her nostalgic happiness at remembering where she got her treasured necklace turned to confusion when she saw Ansem the Wise approach the table out of the corner of her eye.  _What is he doing here?_ She wondered as he stood next to her.

"Now Kairi," her grandmother said. "What do you say to your uncle?"

"Thank you, Uncle Ansem," her four-year-old self replied as the ruler of Radiant Garden walked over, leaned down, and gave her a hug.  _Ansem the Wise is my uncle?_ She thought with shock and surprise. Before she had time to process this, however, more images of her life in Radiant Garden flashed before her eyes.

* * *

This time, she saw the familiar memory of her grandmother telling her the story of what she now knew to be the legend of the Keyblade War in the Hollow Bastion library.

"So listen, child," she heard the elderly woman say. "Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away. Do you understand, Kairi?"  _I do,_ the young woman thought as she smiled nostalgically at the familiar sight of her grandmother telling stories. To her confusion, rather than ending, as the memory did, the events before her continued.

"Now, Kairi," her grandmother continued as she got up and led her four-year old self toward the window. "You need to climb down into the Gardens. Go to Mr. Merlin's house in the Zero District, can you do that for me dear?" Her grandma opened the window to reveal the fire escape her uncle had installed in case anyone ever got trapped in the library by a fire.

"But what about you?" the four-year-old Kairi asked as the seventeen-year old one observing these events in a dream years later wondered the exact same question. A feeling of unease began to settle into the older Kairi.

"I will be alright, child," the frail old woman replied as she helped her granddaughter out of the window and onto the fire escape. "Now, when you get to Merlin's house, tell him we need a Key. He'll know what to do. I'll meet you there Kairi. I just need to grab a few things."

"Grandma," the younger Kairi began nervously. "What's going on? Is Uncle Ansem okay?"

"I will explain everything when we get to Merlin's house, dear," her grandmother answered. "Now go." With that she closed and locked the window just as a large dark mass came swarming into the library, causing the older Kairi's metaphorical blood (since she wasn't technically there) to run cold.  _Heartless,_ she thought, ignoring her younger self's shouts for her grandma to run as the swarm of Shadows and Soldiers came pouring into the room. The large group parted as a familiar man came striding through the swarm.  _Xehanort's Heartless,_ she realized fearfully as understanding dawned on her, though her conscious mind refused to admit what was about to happen.

"Where is the girl?" the humanoid Heartless demanded.

"Out of your reach, Xehanort!" the elderly woman snapped.

"I believe you're mistaken," the man said. "I am Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness."

"LIAR!" Kairi heard her four-year-old self shout through the window. Ignoring the shout, her grandmother turned to face the man.

"You can change your name," the old woman retorted. "You can change your face, but you cannot hide who you are, Xehanort. I knew you would be trouble from the moment you set foot in this castle. But I will never let you near my granddaughter if it's the last thing I do." To Kairi's surprise, her grandmother spat in the face of the man who had caused so much suffering in the last decade before summoning something that surprised even Xehanort.  _A Keyblade?_ Kairi thought with surprise.  _My grandma could wield a Keyblade?_

"Then so be it," the dark-skinned man replied. With a wave of his hand the swarm of heartless descended upon Kairi's grandmother. But these were only newly created shadows, and her grandmother had obviously been a Keyblade wielder for a long time, judging by the way she cut through the storm of demons like a hot knife through butter. Within minutes, the shadows were gone, and only Xehanort remained. Grinning maliciously, he summoned what looked like a double-tipped spear, with a copy of Riku's Soul Eater at each end. Her grandmother cast a Blizzaga spell at the window, freezing it shut as the madman advanced.

"Grandma, NO!" The younger girl shouted.  _No,_ Kairi thought as she watched the duel, feeling as helpless as her younger self.  _Please. No._ The duel started out fairly evenly but after a minute it was clear that despite her skill with a Keyblade, her grandmother was years out of practice, and her age had lost her this fight.  _No._ Kairi thought.  _Nonononononononononononono…_ Suddenly, her heart stopped, and her world shattered.

"GRANDMA!" she screamed in unison with her younger self. Blood spattered the window as Xehanort's Heartless drove his blade through her grandmother's heart.

* * *

Kairi gasped as she bolted up out of her bunk, biting her lip to keep herself from screaming and waking the others. Breathing heavily, she turned around to see the sheets stained with sweat. She might have once dismissed the kind of things she'd seen as a dream, but she knew better. She loved her adoptive family on the Destiny Islands, and she was happy there, but what she'd never told either of her friends was that there were nights where she used to lie awake in bed at night wondering where her birth parents were and why she couldn't remember them. For thirteen years she had wracked her brain in vain to try and remember her life in Radiant Garden, and all of a sudden, the fog had finally lifted. And it had lifted painfully.

She remembered her parents dying when she was three, and afterwards she and her grandmother had moved into the castle with her uncle. She remembered the times she and her grandmother would go to the gardens to pick flowers. She remembered Aqua and King Mickey saving her from the unversed. She remembered sneaking into her uncle's lab to visit him while he was conducting experiments, and her uncle taking her and her step-cousin Ienzo out for sea-salt ice cream afterwards. Tears of joy streamed down her face as she finally remembered her family, before they quickly turned to tears of sorrow.

She hugged her legs as she remembered the day that everything had fallen apart. Ienzo had technically been her cousin but in actuality he was more like an older step-brother. He'd been hanging out with Xehanort so often that he was barely around anymore, and she had gone into her uncle's lab to see if she could talk to him. She shivered as she recalled her horror at finding him, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Braig unconscious on the floor with dark smoke rising off their bodies while Xehanort and her uncle were arguing in the corner of the lab. She hadn't understood what was happening at the time, but her screams once again rang in her ears as she remembered watching Xehanort conjure a corridor of darkness against the wall and shove her uncle into it. That had only been the beginning.

As brave as she was now, she was only four at the time so she'd done the first thing she could think of and made a beeline for her grandmother's room and prayed that she'd be there. She found her grandmother in the library. After telling her grandma what she had seen, she told Kairi the old fairytale that she would always tell her. After telling her to go to Merlin's house, her grandmother helped her climb out the window onto the fire escape so that she could make her way down to the gardens. She remembered her grandma locking the window once she had climbed outside just as Xehanort's Heartless and an army of Shadows and Soldiers stormed into the library.

The tears continued to flow as she remembered her grandmother defiantly blocking Xehanort's path to protect her, remembering the man who had quickly become an older brother to her stabbing her grandmother through the heart. She climbed out of bed, got dressed, and headed down the corridors of the ship in search of Ansem as she remembered her failed attempt to flee the palace as Heartless swarmed over Radiant Garden. Although Kairi didn't normally get upset so quickly, she'd just had four years of repressed memories pop into her head without warning. She was rattled, in shock, and in need of comfort from the only biological family she had left.

After the chaos of the battle in Port Royal, everyone except Mickey and Ansem had gone to sleep in the ship's sleeping quarters that had been installed for long-term voyages. Now, the Princess of Heart raced through the corridors towards the galley. Everybody had already slept during the voyage aboard the Black Pearl, but the fight on Isla Cruces had left them all exhausted. They'd all stayed awake long enough to make a pit stop at the Mysterious Tower to pick up Aladdin and a couple of others to take to Radiant Garden for the new Daybreak Coalition, but right now everyone was still asleep.

Which, she figured as she walked into the galley to find Ansem the Wise sitting at the table eating a piece of toast, was probably a good thing. She didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable. When she walked into the room in tears, Ansem quickly came up and gave her a hug.

"I remember," she said as the tears finally stopped.

"Remember what?" the former king asked.  _He remembers too,_ Kairi thought to herself. She had seen the look in his eyes when he saw her crying, and she could recognized the same look he'd given her whenever she'd cried back in Radiant Garden.  _He's just not sure if I do._

"Everything," she replied as uncle and niece were reunited for the first time in twelve years. "Going out for ice cream when you were done in the lab, birthday parties in the Grand Hall…." The two embraced even more tightly then before as Ansem began to cry tears of joy himself.

"I am so sorry," he said hoarsely as he stood there in the kitchen hugging his niece. "After the destruction of Radiant Garden I became so consumed with my revenge against the Organization that I never thought of going out to look for you or my mother. When I regained the rest of my memories while you were on Port Royal, I didn't want to say anything because I was afraid of how'd you react, and ashamed of not trying to find you."

"It's alright," Kairi replied as they broke apart. "I was so traumatized by the destruction of our world that my mind blocked out all memory of my life in Radiant Garden so I can't really be mad when I couldn't even remember you for the last twelve years."

"Well," her uncle said as he walked over to the freezer and pulled out two Sea-Salt Ice Cream Bars. "We won't be landing for a couple more hours. I think I have a few years of after-work ice cream sessions to catch up on." Ansem smiled as he and his niece sat in the galley eating ice cream like they used to and talking about Kairi's life on Destiny Islands. They'd be landing at Radiant Garden in a few hours to bring a few supplies, but right now, both of them were just happy to be able to enjoy this little family reunion.

* * *

#### The World That Never Was – Grey Area

#### July 12, 2015

"AND YOU JUST LET THEM ESCAPE WITH THE PRINCESS!?" Master Xehanort did not lose his temper often, but even then, he normally kept his voice low and his tone even. Not this time. The Riku Replica's failure to capture Princess Jasmine following the loss of Snow White to Maleficent had caused the ancient Master to finally raise his voice and shout furiously as he grilled his vessel over his failure.

"The princess was on their ship, and my attempts to board through the Corridors of Darkness failed," the clone replied calmly. "There was no way I'd be able to just walk onto the ship, and my duel with Sora had reached a stalemate. Rather than continue fighting and risk my death, I withdrew to recover and fight another day."

"AND YET YOU SEEM PERFECTLY FINE TO ME!" the old man shouted. Braig winced. He felt sorry for the teenaged clone. He'd been saved from death by Young Xehanort (or Shrimpy, as Braig liked to call the Keyblade Master's time-traveling younger self), healed of his injuries, and recruited into the Seekers of Darkness on the promise of getting a real heart, as opposed to "the knock off of someone else's" he currently had. He could relate to wanting something better for yourself. Of course the Replica wanted to be more than just Riku's copy while Braig wanted to use the X – Blade to free himself from the curse of the Unchained, but he could at least relate to the general gist of the clone's plight.

He'd once overheard Larxene tell Marluxia shortly after her recruitment that having hearts was painful and that being Nobodies was an improvement. Oh how right she was. As Unchained, they lived every day knowing that the people around them that they cared about would grow old and die over and over again while they kept soldiering on. Becoming Nobodies had desensitized them to the emotional pain for a while, but it was only a temporary relief. Braig wanted to use the X – Blade – regardless of who forged it – to release himself from this emotionally ravaging existence.

His plans were moving along smoothly. Soon enough, Kairi would remember her life in Radiant Garden. After becoming Unchained, Ava had taught him how to harness the Realm of Sleep to send messages through dreams. He could only send his own memories, rather than actually create fake visions, but his own memories of Radiant Garden would suffice. Remembering her life before she was exiled to Destiny Islands by Xehanort over a decade ago was the first step toward unchaining herself. All she'd needed was a push in the right direction to start jogging her memory. Sensing that she was approaching Radiant Garden, he looked around the room to see if the coast was clear. Master Xehanort had finished yelling at the Riku Replica and had left the room, so he got up and walked back to his room.

Once there, he dug through his closed to retrieve a flash drive he'd collected while time travelling with Shrimpy. He'd run into the son of the man who'd built the computer world that became Ansem's Space Paranoids mainframe, and the two had discussed the idea of combining the two different versions of the virtual world at length before Sam Flynn had acquiesced under the condition that he be contacted when it was done, in an attempt to create a link between the computer in Ansem's lab and the computer that housed the original Grid. Braig smiled as he headed back to Radiant Garden for the second time in twenty-four hours. This was going to be good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Larxene and Marluxia part refers to one of the Kingdom Hearts novels that has a few glimpses of life in the Organization. The scene in question was shortly after Larxene is recruited when she and Marluxia discuss the change from having hearts to being Nobodies and formulating their eventual takeover plan. Larxene made a comment that showed off some Hidden Depths when she says that having hearts is painful and that they're better off without them.
> 
> To clarify on Braig showing his memories to Kairi in a dream like Chirithy does in Unchaned X/Union X/Whatever Square is calling it now, he just sent the first memory because being part of Ansem's royal guard means he'd be present for a lot of events held in the castle, it made sense to have the royal guard be present at some of the same events as Kairi. She remembered the second part on her own. Braig sending his memories of the party just started knocking over the dominoes as far as her remembering Radiant Garden goes.


	19. Master and Apprentice

#### Radiant Garden – Ansem's Study

#### July 12, 2015

 _Just a few keystrokes and the two virtual worlds will become one,_ Braig thought to himself as he plugged the drive into Ansem's old computer. Even though the virtual world in Hollow Bastion had developed differently from Encom's original system, the two Grids were still connected. The original Tron's ability to remember the copy's bonding with Sora in Space Paranoids was proof of that. It was time for the two to be reunited. But he'd never told Sam the true reason for wanting to recombine the two versions of the Grid. If the two virtual realms could be put back together, then so could the original world.

With a smile, Braig began the process of merging the contents of the flash drive with the mainframe. It would be a bit chaotic in the virtual world, but once Tron was restored (the original and the copy shared the same heart, so now it was a matter of combining the two different bodies into one whole), he would be able to adapt and take charge inside the Grid. The world had been consumed shortly after the fall of CLU's tyrannical regime within the computer world, and had not been restored until last year, when Sora had sealed the keyhole within the Realm of Sleep.

But one of the secrets Braig had learned as an Unchained was that some worlds were Tethered. Most worlds were completely independent of each other, but there were some worlds where invisible portals existed. Transportation was instantaneous, unnoticeable even, unless you already knew they were there. This allowed for passage between different worlds without having to rely on Corridors of Darkness. That was how Alice had gotten to Wonderland, how Captain Hook was able to sail his pirate ship through outer space, and how La Cite Des Cloches was able to maintain contact with fifteenth century earth and keep up with the political, artistic, and social minutia of the time period.

There would come a day, Braig knew, when these worlds such as La Cite Des Cloches and Port Royal would disappear. Xehanort intended to use the X – Blade to bring about the Keyblade War, but that was not the weapon's only use. It could also be used to bring the scattered fragments of the original world back together. However, the process would take some time, given the physical distance between them. Worlds like Port Royal and La Cite Des Cloches would be restored first, returning to the main fragment to be restored in their proper time periods. The Grid, however, would remain connected between Radiant Garden and it's original source.

As he finished combining the two Grids, he pocketed the thumb drive, and returned to the World That Never Was in a swirl of darkness, security camera footage and the combined Grid/Space Paranoids fusion the only sign he had even been there in the first place.

* * *

#### Radiant Garden – Garden Square

#### July 12, 2015

Meanwhile, the Gummi Ship finally landed in Radiant Garden. Mickey, Ansem and the others disembarked just as another meeting between the founders of the new Daybreak Coalition concluded.

"Dad," Kairi called out as she ran up to hug her adoptive father. "What are you doing here?"

"Adding the Islands to this little alliance, sweetheart," he replied. "I'm just glad you're alright." As the council members dispersed, she led her adoptive father over to introduce him to her uncle. While the conversation continued about how Kairi had been doing and what Ansem had been up to, a few of the Radiant Garden citizens wandering near the meeting site noticed the familiar figure of their old king on the edge of the gardens.

"Ansem the wise?" Leon gasped in shock. When the other delegates stared at him in confusion, he explained that the blonde man had been the previous ruler of Radiant Garden before Xehanort had banished him to the realm of darkness over a decade ago. The others bowed their heads solemnly, recalling the young man's explanation of his world's history.

"I know what many of you probably think of me," the former king of Radiant Garden said as he looked out at the faces of his people who were gathering around the group. "I cannot apologize enough for the pain that Xehanort has caused all of you, and the mistakes that I made which allowed him the freedom to do so." To his surprise, the citizens of Radiant Garden began to applaud. Confused, he looked into the crowd and recognized the looks of sympathy in his former subjects' eyes.  _They've already forgiven me,_ he realized as tears welled up in his eyes. However his attention turned to the four figures making their way through the crowds. His old apprentices, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo.  _They must have been restored while I was trapped in the Realm of Darkness,_ he realized. But when he saw the looks on their faces, he instantly understood why they were here.

"We are so, so sorry," Ienzo gasped as he hugged his adoptive father. "Every time we wanted to stop, Xehanort kept finding ways to convince us to keep going, and by the time we realized what he was really up to, it was too late. Can you ever forgive us?" Behind him, Ansem looked to see his other apprentices bowing their heads in shame. After reflecting on what he'd learned about Xehanort manipulating others into doing what he wanted, he finally spoke.

"I've been bitter and angry about what you four did to me for too long. I have heard from others just how manipulative Xehanort truly is, and while you still bear some responsibility for your actions, I cannot be angry when my actions in pursuit of revenge caused almost as much suffering as yours did." With that, he gestured the other three apprentices over to join in the group hug. Even Kairi managed to sneak over and join in unnoticed. When they were finished with the reunion, he turned to Leon.

"Leon, is it?" he began. "May I ask who is in charge of the city now? I have no desire to retake my old throne unless asked to, but I nevertheless wish to offer my services in rebuilding our world."

"We haven't actually decided how to rebuild or restructure the Radiant Garden government," the young man answered. "So the founding members of the Restoration Committee have been doing the decision making. But to be honest, the others and I are getting tired of making all the decisions, and we were going to bring up who to put in charge at the meeting tonight."

While Ansem and Leon discussed the upcoming meeting, Dilan walked over toward where Aqua was standing while Riku, Mickey, Aladdin, and Cassim discussed matters with the world representatives regarding Agrabah's admission into the alliance.

"Aqua, isn't it?" the Organization's former number 3 began. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," the blue-haired Keyblade Master replied as the two shook hands. "It's nice to be back here, although I wish it was under better circumstances. Honestly, it's like I never get a chance to go to different worlds unless I'm fighting Xehanort. The last time I came here I ended up trapping myself in the Realm of Darkness for thirteen years to save the… a friend." Dilan raised an eyebrow at her word swapping, suspecting that the person she was referring to was more than a friend. However, his thoughts returned to her comment about being in Radiant Garden thirteen years ago.

"Did you by any chance, happen to have left behind a Keyblade and a suit of armor?" the black-haired man asked.

"Yes," the Keyblade Master replied. "My friend was sinking into a portal to the realm of darkness, and I cast off my armor in order to save him."

"We found it in the square the following morning," Dilan said as he recalled the day that Xehanort had been brought into Ansem's household. "I think now that you're here, it's high time we returned it." Gesturing to Aeleus to follow, the two royal guards led Aqua down to the Chamber of Repose to collect the armor and Keyblade that had been discovered in town the day that Xehanort first showed up in Radiant Garden. Returning the woman's armor to her was, Dilan and Aeleus reflected, the least they could do for her after everything they'd been through, and everything that they'd done. Ansem and the people of Radiant Garden may have forgiven them, but the four disciples had not yet forgiven themselves. And in their minds, they had a long road of atonement ahead of them.

* * *

#### The Grid – Tron City

#### July 12, 2015

 _What's going on?_  A young program named Beck wondered as the Grid began to shake uncontrollably. With the exception of a large vehicle crashing, the digital world had never experience a true earthquake. Since the structures in Tron City were built to withstand tank fire, the young mechanic quickly rezzed his Light Cycle as he took off for the security center.

CLU's derezolution at the hands of Flynn had sent shockwaves through The Grid. With the System Administrator dead, Dyson was quick to assert control in his absence, but there had been enough of a gap between CLU's death and Dyson's takeover for the uprising to take control of several outlying cities. Purgos, Gallium, and Argon had been liberated by the time Dyson and Pavel took control of CLU's remaining forces. Beck had been forced to sit out for a majority of the conflict after a duel with Tron shortly after his repurposing into Rinzler left the mechanic-turned-revolutionary severely wounded and confined to a wheelchair while Paige worked to heal his injuries, leaving Zed and Mara to take command of the growing resistance movement.

Beck's wounds had healed just in time to lead the liberation of Argon. From there, he'd led the resistance in capturing Purgos, Bismuth, and Arija. Now, a hundred cycles later, the Grid was finally free from the tyrannical rule of CLU's armies.  _But if it's not one of the surviving generals, then what is it?_ Beck thought as he walked into the command room of Tron City's security center to find his girlfriend Paige, his friends Zed and Mara, and his mentor, the city's namesake, looking at a 3D holo-map showing the entire grid.

"The Grid is being merged," Tron said bluntly before Beck could ask what was going on.

"Merged with what?" Zed asked as the room shook. While Beck had been recovering from his duel with Rinzler, his friend had stepped up to take a stronger leadership role in the rebellion, co-leading the revolution alongside Mara, who he finally worked up the courage to confess his feelings for shortly after Beck's departure.

"Before CLU's coup Flynn created a copy of the Grid to give to a friend of his named Ansem," Beck's mentor answered. "For some reason, someone is now merging our Grid and the copy."

"How you can you be sure?" Mara asked, as the shaking died down.

"Because now I'm remembering things that I experienced in the other Grid," Tron replied as he took out his identity disk to show several new memories that Paige – who had done a sweep of the program's disc to purge residual traces of repurposing once resistance forces had rescued him from the sea of simulation after his fall – had never seen before. Tron played the memories of him interacting with the users that called themselves "Sora", "Donald", and "Goofy" as proof that he wasn't making this up.

"So what do we do now?" Paige asked. "What does mean for us?" Before Tron could answer her a light began to emit from a strange hexagonal computer terminal that had appeared on the wall while everyone was distracted by the quake.

"Tron," a voice spoke up from the terminal. "This is Ansem the Wise. Can you hear me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured that after realizing how much he'd screwed up in his quest for revenge, Ansem would be a little more willing to forgive the apprentices, since their behavior in Birth By Sleep and Dream Drop Distance indicates that their betrayal of Ansem and the experiments they did weren't entirely willing on their part (I know DiZ's secret reports in KH2 state that Ienzo was the one who convinced Ansem to build the laboratory after BBS, but Ienzo was only a few years older than Kairi was at the time (I'd guess 11 at most, because he looks like he's in his early twenties as a Nobody and after he comes back), it's not hard to image Xehanort being the one who either put the idea in Ienzo's head or asked the kid to convince Ansem on his behalf. Xehanort has proven he's a master of manipulating people into doing what he wants. I figured while they may have turned over a new leaf, they still regretted everything they'd done, even if Xehanort had manipulated and goaded them into a lot of it.


	20. Assimilating the Grid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to clarify a few things about the last few chapters
> 
> 1) Braig's whole "wanting to be released from his existence by forging the X – Blade." He's not suicidal, he's just a bit of a Death Seeker after being alive for so long.
> 
> 2) The Tethered Worlds idea was born out of me thinking about the definitively Earth-based worlds in the series (Deep Jungle, London (even though it's technically part of Neverland in the game), La Cite De Cloches, and the Country of the Musketeers) that take place in real-world cities. So I thought "without going into the whole alternate versions of the same city idea like some fics do, how can I create an explanation for how a world based on 15th century Paris could exists in spite of being separate from Earth, it's history, and culture?" Thus the idea of Tethered Worlds was born. The best way to describe it would be like those portals in Thor: The Dark World that keep sending people and objects everywhere, and how Loki, Jane, and Thor get from Asgard to Svartalfheim (the Dark Elf home world) without using the Bifrost.

#### The Grid – Tron City

#### July 12, 2015

"Loud and clear, Ansem," Tron called out as he raced over to the terminal and began typing. "We're experiencing seismic activity all over the Grid. What's going on? Why are the two systems being merged?"

"I'd very much like to know that myself," the voice on the other end replied. "I'd just returned from several years of exile. When I came into the room housing the computer system, I found that someone had already logged in and begun combining the original Grid with the Radiant Garden system. There's nothing I can do from out here except work to keep the transition as smooth as possible. It should be done in about an hour."

"Very well," Tron replied as the connection was cut. Gesturing to the former rebel leaders, he continued. "We're going to be experiencing more seismic activity until the transition is complete. Contact the security teams and let them know the focus on protecting the civilian programs from shifts in the landscape. This is going to be bumpy, but it'll pass. Now let's move." With that, the five programs split up and started contacting other security forces to notify them of the plan.

"What about the programs in the other grid," Beck asked as he and Tron raced through the streets on their light cycles. "If they don't already have a copy to merge with on our grid, then where will they end up?"

"They won't," his mentor. "There were only two others besides me and they had been derezzed cycles ago."

"Why?" Beck asked as they dismounted and collapsed their cycles before racing through the streets to the Arcade.

"Because they were as bad as CLU," was all his mentor would say on the matter. "In any case, we need to worry more about the architecture of the grid changing. Flynn showed me how to access the code for the entire system from the arcade. We need to monitor it and make sure everything fits together smoothly." Once the two programs reached the Arcade, Tron quickly began typing on the keyboard in the basement, working to smooth out the transition.

* * *

#### Radiant Garden – Ansem's Study

#### July 12, 2015

"Will everything be all right in there?" Kairi asked as her uncle typed furiously at the computer to integrate the two systems. Aqua, Dilan, and Aeleus had come into the room to access the Chamber of Repose to retrieve her armor, only to find the computer on and in the process of merging the lab's mainframe with another system. While Aeleus and Aqua remained in the study to keep an eye on the system, Dilan – who had become a remarkably fast runner in his years as Xaldin – ran to fetch Ansem and the others to inform them of what was happening.

Ansem had quickly assessed the situation and began working to smooth the unification of the two systems. After disconnecting the audio connection, he'd explained to the others the origin of the computer world and how someone was now forcibly merging his copy with the original. Since they couldn't access the Chamber of Repose until the transition was complete, Aqua and Dilan stood anxiously in the corner of the computer room near the door to the area that once contained the machines they'd used to conduct their experiments. Dilan and Aeleus regretted that they'd have to show Aqua the place where they'd committed their greatest crimes, but it was necessary in order to reach the Chamber of Repose.

"Most likely," Ienzo replied as he and his cousin waited in the main area of the study. "Ansem knows computers better than any of us, and he helped create the Space Paranoids system in the first place. He'll be able to handle whatever's going on in there. It's easier to change things from outside than in." The young man looked around and marveled at how after weeks of cleaning the study looked like new, as if the horrible atrocities he'd committed had never occurred. But he knew it was foolish to think that a few good deeds would just erase the wrongs he'd done. Turning his attention back to his cousin, their conversation turned to more mundane things like the restoration of Radiant Garden and Kairi's life on Destiny Islands. His expression darkened, however, when she asked him what being in the Organization had been like.

"On its own it was dull and monotonous," he began after taking a moment to steady himself against the wave of guilt and regret that threatened to overwhelm him. "But even though our emotions weren't real at first, all I could think about for the first few months was the lingering guilt over what we'd done. What I'd done. I remember seeing people we cared about either become Heartless or be slaughtered on the spot. Finding our grandmother's body in the library and not caring that she was gone. I remember the looks on the faces of our friends, civilians and servants alike, as the Heartless consumed our home. I remember all those horrors and my greatest regret isn't that I cause all of that in the first place. I still regret all that but what I truly hate myself for the most is that I saw and all those horrors and never cared."

At this point, the steel-blue-haired young man finally broke down and hugged his cousin, finally unleashing twelve years of pent up guilt and sorrow as the tears flowed down his cheeks.  _Not even kids have been safe from Xehanort,_ Kairi thought as she comforted her older cousin.  _Ienzo was only a few years older than me when he became a Nobody. To go through that at such a young age… How could Xehanort do something like that to a kid?_ For while Ienzo had matured physically and mentally, becoming a Nobody had left him absolutely no time to mature emotionally. True, he'd always been a bit quite before then, but he'd still been recovering from the loss of his parents, so being a bit closed off due to grief was understandable. Were it not for Xehanort's machinations, Kairi reflected, her cousin/brother would have eventually recovered and grown up fully. But thanks to Xehanort, it would be long time before anyone in their family would truly be able to live "normally."  _And that's one more thing Xehanort will pay for,_ the princess thought as her uncle announced the successful merging of Space Paranoids and The Grid, while Aeleus logged in to the computer to grant access to the Chamber of Repose.  _He has ruined so many people's lives that very few of us will ever be emotionally normal again, and he will pay for what he did to my family._

* * *

#### Lanes Between – Jolly Roger: Captain's Cabin

#### July 12, 2015

"Dr. Hamsterviel is in the process of modifying the robot to suit our purposes, but so far he has been unable to access the datascape," Diablo reported as he stood in Hook's cabin along in human form, along with his mistress, Lord Hades, Cruella De Vil, and the captain himself. "The Mouse must have anticipated we'd attempt to steal it and took steps to prevent us from getting into it." His stood calmly with his hands behind his back as Maleficent frowned at this latest news.

"And what did you learn about the origin of the journal itself?" she asked calmly. She wasn't too concerned with the origins of the book now that Diablo had seized the rare opportunity to smuggle the Journal itself out of Disney Castle. Apprently Mickey had used a re-sizing ray created by that crackpot Professor Ludwig Von Drake to enlarge the book to a size normal beings could read without relying on a magnifying glass.

"Through a mind reading device Von Drake left lying around in his lab, because he'd naturally be the sort of person to invent something like that and leave it carelessly lying around," the bird-man began. "I scanned the queen's mind for memories relating to that journal. Apparently, it had been passed down to Mickey by Yen Sid following the mouse's promotion to the rank of Master. Apparently the book is intended to be used as a record, and is passed down from Master to apprentice. The queen didn't know any more than that."

"A pity, she didn't know more," Maleficent replied as she picked up the book, "Although this does give me an idea."

"My lady?" her pet asked, confused.

"During our occupation of Hollow Bastion," she continued. "I came upon texts that told of beings known only as the Foretellers. They were Keyblade Masters from the age of fairy tales who commanded entire legions of Key Bearers during the war over the Light. In fact, their infighting is what caused the war in the first place, but that's another matter for another time. What matters is that the infighting sprang from a betrayal by one of the six. Apparently their master gave five of the six Foretellers each their own copy of the Book. However, all but one of the books were incomplete, missing their last pages and ending with a line foretelling the victory of darkness over the light. But one of them was complete."

"So where exactly does that leave us?" Captain Hook asked from where he stood against the wall across from the desk.

"I've heard many tales of enchanted books before, but none of them have ever held the power that this Journal possesses," the green-skinned fairy answered as she stood from the desk. Given the fact that the journal was able to erase itself all on its own, I believe that we now have in our possession one of the five copies of the Book." Her accomplices stared at her in shock. They knew that there to be some kind of connection between the cricket's journal and the legendary tomes, but they weren't expecting the journal to actually  _be_ one of the mythical books.

"How can you be so sure?" Cruella asked from her seat on the edge of one of the beds.

"Because "digitizing" any ordinary book, even other magical books, would not be able to create entire worlds otherwise," the sorceress replied as she stood from the chair. "And it makes sense. Examining the Organization's records during our brief occupation of their castle before Xehanort's return forced us out revealed that the three heroes had been out of commission for the year following my death after travelling to Castle Oblivion. Until thirteen years ago, Castle Oblivion was called The Land of Departure. It had served as the headquarters for Keyblade Wielders for thousands of years. It would make sense that, if the Books were scattered to prevent their power from being used, a copy would be kept on a world defended by several Key Bearers. The contents of the volume we stole must have been erased because being in such close proximity to one of the other copies most likely caused the book to revert to its default state. If it can show the future, what use would it have in preserving records of the present?"

Looking around the room she saw her colleagues (within the hierarchy of her burgeoning empire they were technically just her advisers, but in truth she trusted the people in this room more than anyone besides herself) nod their heads in awestruck agreement at her deduction.

"Well what now then?" Cruella asked, breaking the silence. "Are we just going to sail around in space checking every world we come across in hopes of finding one of the other four copies?"

"No," Hades spoke up. "The Keyblade Masters of old weren't stupid. They wouldn't have just hidden the books randomly. They would have made sure that they were hard to find, but they would have made sure to choose a world of significance to hide them on. We already know that Aqua was the one who turned the Land of Departure into Castle Oblivion. It would be logical to assume that only she can navigate it and return that world to its original state."

"And I heard from our spies years ago that the boy Ventus went into a coma after those three Keyblade Wielders got into a battle with Xehanort, so we know that she has an incentive to go back," Hook added. "We just need to wait until she wakes him up to sneak in and seize the Book. As for the others, we have plenty of time to brainstorm before we reach our next destination."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters for Sora, Donald, and Goofy's next world will explain how Cruella got added into Maleficent's inner circle, so I'm not going to explain that here.
> 
> As other fan fics made use of the idea, it makes sense that Ienzo never fully developed emotionally because he was only a child when he became a Nobody. I figured that a bit of an emotional breakdown (like a few other post-3D fics about the Org 13 founders) was the best way to show that despite aging physically and mentally, he still has the emotional maturity of a ten-year-old now that he's been recompleted. I hope I showed that well.


	21. Beast's Castle

#### Agrabah – Lair of the Forty Thieves

#### July 12, 2015

"Sa'Luk is gone," Hook reported as he returned to the cave after executing the surviving thieves. They were a hindrance to the cause, and the less people who knew where to find their new treasure vault, the better. "Turned to solid gold and sunk to the bottom of the sea."

"He and Pete are of no great loss," Maleficent replied as she looked out at the Leroys sorting and organizing the funds obtained from the taxes Prince John imposed upon his subjects. The gold would be used to pay for things such as food and technology, freeing up energy and resources for more important tasks like gathering intelligence on their enemies' movements. "What concerns me," she continued angrily, "is the loss of Jones. What happened?"

"Word around Port Royal is that some local big shot got his hands on the fish-man's heart," Hades answered as he walked over to stand at her side. "Turned Jones into his personal attack dog by threatening to kill Jones if he disobeys. I guess it's a good thing we kept all the important stuff on the Jolly Roger instead of the Dutchman then."

"It is," the green-skinned fairy admitted, her anger still evident in her voice despite her calm demeanor. "But the loss of a valuable asset cannot be tolerated. This "Cutler Beckett" cannot be allowed to interfere with our plans. We cannot aid Jones at present with our forces spread thin, so we must find another means of space travel. Our previous defeat taught us the folly in keeping all of our resources in one central location, and until we have the resources to launch an attack on Port Royal, Jones will have to wait."

"Speaking of previous defeat," Hook spoke up as he finished cleaning the blood from his blade. "You never mentioned how you came back from the dead." The two men turned their heads toward Maleficent. While the collapse of their old alliance was a sore subject for all of them, both were curious to know just how Maleficent was able to return after being slain in Hollow Bastion.

"You never truly died, did you?" Hades asked he placed a hand on Maleficent's shoulder. The affectionate gesture did not go unnoticed as Hook raised an eyebrow with a knowing smirk. "I couldn't find your soul in the underworld afterwards."

"No," the sorceress admitted. "After researching, studying, and manipulating the powers of darkness for so long, after being defeated by Sora in my dragon form, I found myself trapped in the Realm of Darkness, unable to escape under my own. I was only able to escape because a portion of my power lingered in my robes. The three good fairies "remembering" me allowed me to escape the dark realm because to deny that darkness exists only gives it more power, but fearful acknowledgement is even better. I believe Ursula was able to return using the same method herself once before."

Admitting the precise method of her return had clearly been a rare moment where Maleficent let down her stoic mask to reveal how such events had affected her emotionally. It was a rare display of vulnerability from the green-skinned fairy. If she had done so in front of anyone else she would have slain them all on the spot. But after several years of conquering and destroying worlds together, she actually trusted her old allies. She couldn't remember a time she'd been so open with people since The Ritual.

"But anyway," she changed the subject, slamming the mask back into place. "Only one Princess remains unprotected. We must act to make sure that the Organization does not capture her themselves. I care not whether the Keyblade Wielders succeed in rescuing her, as long Xehanort fails."

"Then I'll dispatch Gaston and a crew of Leroys immediately," Captain Hook replied with a bow as he exited the cave through the secret tunnel the Leroys had carved through the walls after Sa'Luk and the thieves had left so that they would not have to rely on the continued use of the ocean passageway to access their loot, allowing them to maintain the secrecy of the place.

"We could bring in a few more people to the inner circle, you know," Hades said when the pirate captain was gone. "While I enjoy the more  _intimate_ setting, it'd be good to have as many voices as the old group had." He took her hand in his. "You can't hide behind that mask twenty-four seven."

"Cruella is the best candidate to be added to our inner circle," Maleficent said bluntly, changing the subject. "She's driven, ruthless, and knows how to manipulate others."

"You don't have to do that you know," Hades replied as he turned and put his hands on Maleficent's shoulders. "I thought after our date we understood each other. You can keep the stoic mask on all the time but even Evil Overlords like us need to have someone who we can trust to share what we look like beneath our masks." With that, the Greek god of the underworld leaned in and kissed the Mistress of All Evil on the lips.

* * *

#### Beast's Castle – Courtyard

#### July 12, 2015

"We'd better hurry," Sora said as he, Donald, and Goofy ran up to the front doors of the Beast's castle. After dropping off Jasmine and the others at Yen Sid's tower, the trio had quickly flown to Beast's Castle to protect Belle. With only one princess left out in the open, they knew that Xehanort would be pulling out all the stops to get his hands on Belle. It had been five days since he'd found that Keyblade on the beach, but everything had been happening so quickly that it felt like yesterday. Returning to the task at hand, Sora turned to the door and started knocking.

The door opened to reveal a familiar, chubby man in a red coat. The trio had never seen him in this form, but the pocket watch dangling from his neck was a dead giveaway of the man's identity.

"Cogsworth!" they all shouted as they recognized the former clock.

"I was wondering when we'd see you three again," their old friend greeted warmly. "Come inside. Belle and Prince Adam will be delighted to see you." The castle majordomo lead the three heroes through the entrance hall and toward the dining room, where they found Belle eating dinner with a red-haired man in a familiar blue coat who could only be the former Beast.

"Sora!" the beast-turned-prince exclaimed as he and Belle got up to greet their guests. "Donald! Goofy! It's great to see you all again." Despite the interruption, the couple insisted that the three travelers join them for dinner. As they ate they discussed various topics from life in the castle, to what their world was like. However, the mood darkened when the conversation turned to the reason for the trio's visit.

"The Organization is going after the Princesses of Heart," he explained. "A friend of ours, a Keyblade Master named Yen Sid, set up protection spells around his home so that the princesses can stay somewhere safe from Xehanort until we can finally defeat him for good." After a lengthy discussion of what to do, the couple reluctantly agreed that Belle should stay at Yen Sid's castle for her own safety. Meanwhile, Prince Adam decided, Belle's father, Maurice, would be sent to Radiant Garden as an ambassador to pledge his kingdom's support to the Daybreak Coalition.

* * *

#### Beast's Castle – Entrance Hall

#### July 12, 2015

After Belle had gone to pack and Cogsworth went to speak with Maurice, Adam turned to the three off-worlders.

"I'm afraid I have more bad news," he said as they stood in the entrance hall waiting for Belle and her father to finish backing. "Nobodies were sighted in one of the villages the other day."

"Just great," Sora responded sarcastically. "As if Xehanort wasn't throwing enough at us already. Now we have to deal with the Nobodies again too?"

"I'm afraid so," the prince replied grimly. "The good news is that they haven't been attacking innocent people, so we don't have to worry about them yet.

"Master! Sora! Come quick!" Cogsworth shouted from somewhere upstairs. Concerned, the foursome ran in the direction of the majordomo's voice, weaving their way through the castle's many rooms and passageways until they reached a room in one of the towers with a window overlooking the courtyard. "Look," the man said as he pointed down.

"Whoa!" Sora shouted as he looked out the window to find the courtyard filled with Heartless Nobodies, and the red copies of Stitch at war with each other. The red Stitches fired plasma blasts at Heartless and Nobody alike as all three factions made their way toward the castle. Wading through the mob of monsters was a man dressed in brown hunting boots and a red tunic. The trio had never seen the man before, but apparently Adam had.

"Gaston!" he snapped angrily. "How did he survive?"

"You know this guy?" Sora asked as their friend stormed inside and closed the doors.

"He's a hunter from Belle's hometown who to tried to make her marry him before she came to my castle," the prince answered. "He's arrogant, conceited, and rude. All he cares about is what he wants regardless of what others think." When Maurice arrived from the East Wing, he turned back to Sora. "Can you have your ship hover over the balcony outside my room?"

"Definitely," Donald answered as he pulled out the remote and input the coordinates for their warp point in the prince's room into the autopilot.

"Great!" Adam replied before continuing. "We'll use that as the exit. Cogsworth, have the guards defend the entrance hall."

"But Master, what about the other staff members?"

"The attackers are coming for Belle," the prince countered. "Once Sora and the others have gotten her off-world, they'll leave. The ones that don't leave will be contained to the entrance hall and disposed of. Now go!"

"Yes master," the former clock replied as he hastily went to prepare the guards.

* * *

#### The Lanes Between – Jolly Roger: Corridor

#### July 12, 2015

For the first time in decades, Maleficent actually felt happy. It was a truly alien sensation to her. She'd spent her childhood being shunned by the other fairies because of her appearance, and the few human friends she'd made ran away in terror whenever she used magic. The prejudice and persecution of her kind by King Stefan's father drove her down the path to dark magic. She had become a self-proclaimed champion for her people, exacting brutal vengeance against those who harmed her kind and doing whatever was necessary in the name of protecting them from humans, even when King Stefan worked to improve relations between man and fairy. But despite her vengeful nature and refusal to believe that human and fairy kind could ever co-exist peacefully, that crusade was not what drove her to declare herself the Mistress of All Evil.

 _But now,_ the green skinned fairy thought to herself as she made her way through the corridors of Hook's ship toward her cabin.  _I've finally begun to heal._ Just before she opened the door to the cabin she was sharing with Cruella, a voice called out from the corner of the room.

"Isn't it a bit late to be out and about, M' Lady?" Diablo asked as he transformed from a rat into his human form.

"Hades and I were discussing potential candidates to be added to our inner circle," she responded as she turned back to the door.

"And I'm sure the moaning I heard coming from Lord Hades' cabin a few hours ago was just the ship creaking more loudly than usual," Diablo replied, a knowing grin on his face.

"Tell anyone, and I'll turn you into a dog," she threatened warningly. She knew he hated canine forms because of their tendency to feast on ravens. She'd saved him from some once. She'd come upon a farmer attempting to trap the raven in a net so his dogs could kill it. Since this was only a few days after The Ritual, she pitied the bird and transfigured it into a man. The transformation was enough to frighten off the farmer and his dogs, and after some initial irritation at his abrupt change in form, the raven, Diablo, had pledged himself as her loyal servant. He had been by her side ever since, handling the cloak and dagger aspects of building her empire and dealing with tasks that could not be trusted to bumbling oafs such as Pete and her old goons.

"Come now, M' Lady," the bird-man replied teasingly. "You know that I only share your personal secrets if you command me to."

"Shut up," the green-skinned fairy retorted back, only half-joking. "What happens between Lord Hades and I stays between us. Is that clear?"

"As crystal, my lady," Diablo responded with an exaggerated bow.

"Good," she replied before slipping silently into her cabin for the night.

* * *

**Radiant Garden – Central Square**

**July 11, 2015**

"I must say, Radiant Garden is an impressive place," Cassim remarked as he stood in the square while Aladdin discussed politics and treaties with the leaders of this inter-world alliance.

"It's amazing to see how far we've come," a woman's voice said form behind him. He turned to find a woman in a long pink dress looking up at the castle. "Three years ago this world was a desolate wasteland," she added. "The town had been destroyed almost a decade earlier and the castle had been warped and twisted beyond recognition."

"I'm so sorry," the former King of Thieves said as he took another look at his surroundings with a new appreciation.  _These people managed to completely rebuild their civilization in only three years,_ he thought amazedly as he looked up at the castle.  _Incredible._ "I'm sorry," he continued as he turned back to the woman. "Where are my manners? I never introduced myself. I'm Cassim."

"Aerith Gainsborough," the woman, Aerith, introduced herself as she shook his hands. "I take it your world is joining the alliance?"

"Indeed it is," Cassim replied. "My son married the princess of Agrabah, so he was chosen to represent our world in this "Coalition". I had spent most of my son's life trapped in a group of bandits called the Forty Thieves while trying to build a better life for my family, so I volunteered to put my skills as a thief to use as a spy for this alliance in order to atone for my crimes. Who do I need to speak to about that?"

"I'm not sure," Aerith replied, shaking her head. "You'll probably want to talk to Leon and the other ambassadors."

"Alright then," the reform thief said. "I'll have to ask them after the meeting." Aerith and Cassim talked for a while about Radiant Garden and Agrabah before Cassim spotted his opening to introduce himself to the leadership of the new alliance. After working out the terms of his contract, he was free to explore the city. While the first spy for the Coalition wandered the streets of Radiant Garden, the world ambassadors returned to their home worlds in order to prepare their worlds for membership in the alliance and share techniques for fighting the Heartless. The first alliance of worlds was born.


	22. Waltz of the Damned

#### Beast's Castle – The West Hall

#### July 12, 2015

"Take this!" Sora shouted as he spun through the heartless shooting fire from the Keyblade-based mini-cannons in his hands. During his time in the realm of sleep after the exam, he'd found out how to transform his Keyblade into different weapons for different situations. So far, he'd figured out how to form a cannon that shot balls of light and a pair of pistols that spewed fire spells. He'd have to figure out more transformations along the way. Right now, they had to get to the West Wing. The Heartless and Nobodies had transported themselves inside the castle with ease, while they could hear the sound of plasma gun fire echoing from the entrance hall as the red monsters broke into the castle.

"Thunder!" Donald called out as he fired bolts of lightning from his staff. At the top of the stairs leading to the West Wing, Goofy hurled his shield at the demonic beings as they rose up out of the floor while Adam struck down any that came close with a sword and a part of hand-held claws designed to allow him to cut through heartless with the claws of his old animalistic form to keep the monsters from reaching his father-in-law. A few minutes later, the last of the creatures had been destroyed, and quintent made their way through the West Wing into the prince's bedroom, only to be greeted by a familiar sight: Belle being held captive by a member of the Organization. Only this time, it wasn't Xaldin.

"I was wondering when you'd show up, Xemnas," Sora snapped angrily at his Nobody's former boss. While Sora wasn't normally quick to anger, after absorbing Roxas's memories in the Realm of Sleep, the sight of the leader of the Organization now made him furious. While Sora was still his normal self, there were moments when little bits of Roxas's personality and feelings would peak through, like now. Sora was angry that Xemnas would be so callous towards others on behalf of his Nobody and Replica. But Roxas? Roxas's blood (through Sora) boiled with righteous fury at the mere sight of the man who had lied to and manipulated him his entire life, and was responsible for the death of one of his closest friends.

"My, it's certainly been a while, Roxas," Xemnas replied knowingly. Adam and Maurice gave Sora a confused glance and were about to ask Sora what the man when Donald quickly mouthed " _Long story. We'll explain later."_ Turning their attention back to the Superior of the Inbetween, the man continued. "And here I thought you were gone for good, buried so far inside Sora's heart that you'd never come out again."

"Don't act so surprised," Sora retorted as he glared at Xehanort's Nobody. "After everything you did to him, why wouldn't you expect just looking at you to make him furious?"

"I see your point," the Superior replied mockingly. "But I didn't come here to provoke your other half. If you'll excuse me, I'll be leaving with the princess."

To the surprise of nobody but Xemnas, Belle quickly took charge of the situation. First, she stomped on his foot. Next, she elbowed him in the stomach. Then, she flipped the former Superior of the Organization over her head and ran for the open doors of the Gummi Ship. She leapt off the balcony and grabbed the rim of the entry hatch only for Xemnas to grab her leg. Caught between the balcony and the ship, Belle's solution was to kick her captor in the face using her free foot and scramble aboard. Seeing an opportunity, Donald furiously began entering commands into the ship's autopilot controller the instant Belle was aboard. Before Xemnas could make the leap himself, the Gummi Ship turned toward the balcony as its hatch sealed so that the Organization's number 1 quickly found himself staring down the barrel of the ship's primary laser cannon.

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" The duck shouted as he set the autopilot to fire. Xemnas barely got his barrier spell up before laser fire poured out in his direction. While his barrier protected him from harm, the speed and intensity of the blasts quickly began pushing him backwards a foot at a time. The cannon fire didn't let up until the Superior had been pushed back against the wall, where he escaped into a Dark Corridor. When Donald turned off the auto-fire mechanism, everybody breathed a sigh of relief.

"We did it," Sora gasped. "I was afraid rescuing Jasmine was just a stroke of luck, but we managed to make sure that Xehanort didn't get his hands on all the princesses." As the group recovered, they made their way over to the balcony. Donald lowered the ship so that it was level with the balcony, allowing Belle and Adam to say their goodbyes while he, Goofy, Sora, and Maurice boarded the ship. After the couple bid each other farewell, the group set off for Radiant Garden to drop off Belle's father before bringing Belle herself to the Mysterious Tower.

* * *

#### The Gird – Tron City

#### July 12, 2015

"It's done," Tron said as he wiped his brow relieved. "The merge is complete." He stood up from the terminal in the basement of the arcade, and headed up the stairs to the street. Beck followed him out, and together they rezzed their light cycles and drove back to the security center.

"So, now what?" Beck asked they reached their destination.

"There's going to be a lot more interaction between users and programs," his mentor replied as they walked into the elevator. "So everyone's going to have to get used to it. I'll have to do a general broadcast across the grid to let everyone know what's going on and the changes that are ahead for us." The duo exited the elevator to find Dash, Copper, Link, Paige, Zed, and Mara waiting in the command room.

"So what exactly is going on?" Dash inquired as the founders of the resistance walked into the room. When everyone was gathered in the room, Tron explained.

"Several thousand cycles ago, before CLU seized power," the system monitor began, "Flynn allowed a fellow user, a friend of his, to create a copy of the Grid for his own system. His name was Ansem. And with the copying of the Grid, I was copied over as well. For the last few hundred cycles, the two Grids have remained separate. Until now. A user other than Ansem has merged both our original and Ansem's copy for an unknown purpose. I don't know what the future holds for the Grid, but the one thing that is certain is that we're going to be having a lot more interaction with users going forward."

"How do we know we can trust these other users?" Paige asked. Beck found himself agreeing with her as he held her hand while she continued. "Flynn was betrayed by CLU, but how do we know this "Ansem" can be trusted." Beck heard murmurs of agreement from around the room. Everyone trusted Tron, but despite CLU's downfall and the dissolution of his anti-user propaganda, the programs of the grid were still wary of users.

"Because I worked with Ansem myself, the same way I worked with Flynn to create the Grid," the older program replied. "And a friend of Ansem's is a friend of mine." As if on cue, the terminal that Tron had used to speak to the man earlier sprang back to life.

"Tron," Ansem's voice called out. "Can you hear me? The transition is complete. The merging of the two systems should stop now."

"We saw it from this end," Tron answered as he walked over to the console. "I'm about to make an announcement across the Grid explaining everything to everyone. But some of my friends in here are still a little suspicious of users. Flynn was betrayed by CLU, the program he created to run the system while he was busy. CLU seized control of the grid and spread around a lot of anti-user propaganda. That all went away when we toppled his regime, but some of my friends and colleagues are still a little wary of users."

"As can be expected, old friend," Ansem replied with a chuckle. "Well how about giving your friends a chance to see my world for themselves then, to help ease their wariness?" The other former resistance leaders' eyes widened. They'd all heard of the user world where Flynn hailed from, far beyond the grid, but to actually be able to experience it with their own eyes? Wary of users or not, this was a rare opportunity none of them could think of a good reason to pass up. When Tron looked at the faces around him, he found six faces eager to know more about the world of the mysterious users.

"I think my friends are eager to take you up on that offer," Tron answered on behalf of the group. "I just need to work out security arrangements for while we're gone and we'll be ready to go."

* * *

#### The World That Never Was – Round Room

#### July 12, 2015

"So," Master Xehanort said from his seat at the top of the Round Room, looking out at eleven other vessels and incarnations of himself. "We've lost half of the princesses because we had begun my designs earlier than I instructed. And in the end, we are still missing our final vessel. So tell me, Braig, what you have to say regarding the setbacks your rash decisions have caused?" The old man glared at his one-eyed lieutenant, who simply stared defiantly back.

"Simple," the Freeshooter replied. "We may not have all seven now, but we know where they are. Besides, with only one vessel left, our choice is clear. A certain masked boy seems like the ideal vessel, don't you think?" At this the ancient Keyblade Master grinned insidiously. "And if he doesn't work out," he added. "Sora's not entirely off the table yet either."

"I like the way your twisted mind works," the bald villain admitted with a malicious chuckle.

"I do my best," the sniper said proudly as he spread his hands out and bowed his head.  _With only one more vessel left, Xehanort's plans for recreating the Keyblade War could move forward,_ he thought to himself as he grinned at the matching sets of golden eyes around the room.

The Keyblade War. Like Kingdom Hearts, there were so many things that the legends left out. He should know. He had been there. The world had indeed been full of light, but – while there had always been would-be conquerors like Maleficent – it had taken almost ten thousand years of relative peace before darkness truly grew in the people's hearts enough to be noticed. By the time the first Heartless broke through the barriers separating the dark realm from the light, tensions were already at a boiling point, and only the shining beacon of Daybreak Town – and the Foretellers of the Keyblade unions – kept the other cities of the world in check.

But even then tensions were high. The five Foretellers were constantly at odds over what to do about the Heartless, their mutual distrust fueled by rumors of a traitor amongst their ranks. Anguis wanted to exterminate them all, Leopardos wanted to protect the creatures by finding a place for them to live where they would not be endangering the people, Ursus wanted to seize power in order to protect everyone, and Unicornis kept trying to get the other three to compromise. Only Ava – or Vulpeus, as she was known to the public back then – had understood that conflict among wielders of the Keyblade was senseless, and that everyone needed for focus on their true goal – defending the light.

It was only thanks to Ava that the five unions of Keyblade Wielders were on speaking terms with each other. However when the traitor was finally unmasked, his first act was to drive his blade through Ava's chest. And that had been the final straw. Without Ava's voice of reason, infighting among the Foretellers quickly escalated, drawing their respective unions and even the other cities into the conflict until it snowballed into the all-out war the legends spoke of. Loath as he was to admit it, he still had nightmares about the day Atlantis sank.

 _But that's all in the past_ , Braig thought as his thoughts returned to the present in time for Xehanort to adjourn the gathering. One by one he and the other vessels and versions of Xehanort departed the room in a dark corridor. Just as he was about to warp back to his quarters, the old man's voice called out.

"One moment, Braig."  _Damn,_ the sniper thought.  _And here I thought my sneaking around went unnoticed._

"What's going on?" he asked, hiding his concern behind his usual cocky demeanor as he always did.

"I noticed that you were on the same world as one of the Princesses," the old Master began.  _Here it comes._ "And yet made no move to capture her. Why?"  _And there it is._

"I wanted to scare them. I was under the assumption that given the kid's attachment to Kairi, saving her for last would be the best way to demoralize the so called "heroes." By showing up, I sent a reminder that even though we haven't gone after her yet, we still know where to find her."

"And did I not tell you to notify me before implementing plans?" the Keyblade Master inquired rhetorically, his frustration simmering beneath the surface of his neutral tone.

"All I did was warp in, talk to her for a bit to remind her that we know where she is, and then came back," Braig answered, his cocky mask remaining in place. "I didn't think it was necessary to tell anyone since it was a short trip."

"Even so," the old man added, "The imperfect nature of some vessels requires that I know where all the members of my Organization are at all times. Do I make myself clear?"

"All right, All right," Braig replied in mock exaggeration. "I'll be sure to tell you every time I go to the bathroom."  _At least he doesn't suspect what I'm really up to,_ he thought as he warped back to his personal quarters.  _For all my slipping under the radar, the old coot still trusts me._


	23. Mysterious Tower

#### San Fransokyo – Lucky Cat Café

#### July 12, 2015

In a small coffee shop on the world of San Fransokyo, a young couple in their twenties sat at a table waiting to order. They were chatting rather animatedly and cracking jokes about their personal lives. They looked and sounded like normal people. To any passersby, they appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary human couple. No one, not even the group of teens the two suspected of being this world's resident superhero team that had walked into the café as soon as they sat down, suspected that they were far from either.

"Can I get you two lovebirds anything?" the owner and waitress, a woman named Cass Hamada asked as she walked up to the table with a pen and a pad of paper. The couple didn't order much. The young man ordered coffee and a bagel while his date asked for a salad and some water. The two of them decided to split a sandwich. After taking the two lovers' orders, the woman walked back to the kitchen to start preparing their food and drinks, oblivious to the true identities of her customers.

"So what exactly drove a god of the underworld who the people of his world view as a benevolent overseer of the afterlife – down the path of conquest?" Maleficent asked as she and Hades resumed conversing beneath their masks. With her skills at transfiguration and Hades' ability to take any form he chose, dining in public without being detected was all too easy.

"Well," Hades answered, "When my brothers and I overthrew our father, Kronos, we drew straws to decide who got dominion over what, and Zeus, despite being the youngest, was the one who got to be ruler of the sky and king of the gods, while I, being older, wound up stuck with the thankless job of managing the afterlife. Sure the humans respected me but they weren't building temples and holding festivals in my honor either. After a thousand years of doing the same job over and over and over, I thought to myself, "Why should I stay underground keeping dead souls in the netherworld with no appreciation for what I do on a day-to-day basis while my brothers get praise from almost everyone on our world because good weather is tied to their happiness?" So that's when I decided that I'd had enough of being the the guy everyone overlooked, neither liked nor disliked. Anyway, what about you? What made you go from the self-appointed, well-intentioned extremist guardian of fairy kind to Mistress of All Evil?" _And here it comes,_ the green-skinned fairy thought bitterly as a storm of grief-tinged memories brewed in her mind, reminding her of the real reason she'd gone down the road to Darkness.

She'd once told Riku that he was like a son to her. While she was a master at manipulating others into doing what she wanted, it hadn't been a complete lie. She had been a mother once. She had met and fallen in love with a charming, attractive, Dark Dragon, and while in dragon form she had laid an egg. But then it had all gone wrong. King Stephen, desperate to insure that his unborn child would grow up with a heart of pure light, had stolen her soon-to-hatch egg, and enlisted the aid of a local wizard to perform a ritual that would force any darkness in his child's heart into the heart of her child. Her baby. Never mind the fact that she would have raised her child to be as ruthless as she was, for all her evil, she would never even dream of doing what Stefan had done.

And it had been a pointless ritual anyway, since her research had later revealed that the heart is a blank slate at birth. But Stefan, being ignorant of this and desperate to ensure his child would not turn out like his father before him, had gone ahead with the ritual anyway. Combine that with a "wizard" who didn't even know what he was doing, and it was a recipe for disaster. She loathed Stefan with a burning passion that his daughter had been born a Princess of Heart while she, with all her dark magic, could do nothing but cradle the lifeless body of her newborn son in her arms while her husband left her and returned to his world in grief. The death of her newborn child was the final push that drove the once well-intentioned fairy down the path to darkness and domination.

The curse she'd cast on Aurora had never been about not being invited to the party. That was just the excuse she needed. She had cast the sleeping curse so that Stefan would finally understand the pain of losing his child and being unable to do anything to save them. Even though Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather had improved relations between humans and fairies, the death of her child had solidified her view of humans as selfish, ungrateful monsters who only cared about themselves at the expense of others. Any who weren't such as Riku and Hook were exceptions, rather than evidence against her beliefs. When Xehanort had told her of the seven princesses required to open the door to darkness, she had jumped at the chance to conquer, but ruling the universe had initially only been a side benefit. If Kingdom Hearts was truly the source of all Hearts in the universe, as some texts claimed, then maybe, in addition to conquering all of reality, she could find a way to get her child back.

That's why, when a young boy from Destiny Islands appeared in the halls of Hollow Bastion, beneath her mask of cold manipulation, Maleficent's long-unused maternal instincts kicked in. She had seen in Riku the chance to be the mother figure she never got the chance to be. She could have easily killed him to prevent his later betrayal, but instead, she found herself almost doting on him, teaching him the ways of darkness as Loki's mother had tutored him in magic. But her manipulative relationship with Riku was no replacement for the bond between mother and child that she had craved. And the year she had spent in the Realm of Darkness because of his betrayal had been one of the most harrowing experiences of her life. Were it not for her magical skill and sheer determination, she wouldn't have lived to see the Realm of Light again.

When she told Hades all of this, he took his hand in hers as tears welled up in her eyes. If it hadn't been Hades who had asked the question, forcing her to relive her worst memories, the bakery would have been transformed into a crime scene. But Hades was the only living being in the universe who she trusted enough to let him see beneath her mask. To understand the emotional wounds that had driven her to be the megolomaniacal conqueror she'd become. And honestly, as much as she was afraid to admit it after what had happened to her previous marriage, she loved the lord of the underworld sitting in front of her. The snarky, sarcastic god who knew people well enough to see through the walls she'd built around her heart. Not caring about those around them, she leaned over and kissed him as the waitress finally brought their order.

* * *

#### Mysterious Tower – The Tower

#### July 12, 2015

At the base of Yen Sid's Tower, reunions abounded. After dropping Maurice off in Radiant Garden, both groups had flown back to the Mysterious Tower together. Upon landing, Kairi ran over and hugged Sora while everyone else stood around watching with knowing smiles on their faces. After the first reunion, Aqua came over and joined in the hug. This led to a long conversation as Sora and Kairi (who had already had her reunion with the Keyblade Master on the Gummi Ship flights between worlds) each explained to the other how they knew Aqua. With that out of the way, Sora and Aqua talked about how things had turned out for him as a Keyblade Wielder. Riku had already regaled her with stories of his friend's adventures while flying the Gummi Ship and during meals aboard the Black Pearl, but she wanted to hear Sora's perspective.

"So Donald and Goofy coerced me into having a tea party," Sora said as he explained the aftermath of his Mark of Mastery exam. "And I probably freaked him out because as soon as he woke up, I turned around wearing a party hat and these ridiculous glasses." Despite the gravity of what he'd been through during his exam, Aqua couldn't help but laugh at how comical the post-exam celebration sounded.

"In my defense, Sora," Riku chimed in. "You looked pretty ridiculous with those glasses on." Kairi giggled as she started picturing Sora with different kinds of outlandish glasses that were even more ridiculous looking than the ones he'd actually worn. As the laughter died down, everyone agreed that it was time for them to head inside to rest, compare notes, and plot their next move. So they all headed up the stairs to the tower. Jasmine came downstairs to lead Belle to the chamber that had been set up as the guest room for the Princesses of Heart rescued from Xehanorts clutches. While she unpacked, the rest of the group continued upstairs to speak with Yen Sid regarding their plans to act against the Keyblade Master in question.

After exchanging greets with Aqua and discussing what had happened after he'd seen her last (which mainly consisted of him convincing her that she shouldn't dwell on what might have been, regardless of the effectiveness of her attempt to stop Xehanort), Yen Sid debriefed everyone on what had happened. Everyone except Donald and Goofy was surprised at Sora's theory that the Key to Return Hearts could only be forged from the combined powers of all seven Princesses of Heart. Everyone agreed that the idea made sense, but with four of the princesses in Xehanort's clutches, they had no way of knowing for sure. After that the conversation turned towards Pete's interrogation in Radiant Garden. They all agreed that Maleficent was using the chaos stirred up by Xehanort's actions to try and increase her power base. Unfortunately, since they deduced that she was using Captain Hook's ship as a mobile base, the heroes could not actively hunt her down until she revealed her current position. Riku and Mickey volunteered to patrol the worlds in search of her allies while the others focused on preparing for the final battle.

"While it is tragic that Xehanort managed to capture four of the princesses," the sorcerer began. "There is some good to come out of our current situation. With Jasmine and Belle safe here at the tower, we can focus our efforts on preparing for the final battle with Xehanort. I believe that it is time we awaken Ventus. Ordinarily, we would need the Key to Return Hearts. But with half of the Princess captured by Xehanort, we must find another means of awakening Ventus. I've come up with a theory. To transfer his heart into Terra's body, Xehanort was able to use his Keyblade to remove his own Heart and force it into Terra's body. In theory, Aqua may be able to use the same technique to extract Ven's heart from Sora's body and return it to his own."

"But Master Yen Sid," Aqua said as everyone stared at the mighty sorcerer in surprise. "I've never done that technique before. And even if I had, it's never been done with an extra heart inside the body. We have no idea how this could affect either Sora or Ven. For all we know, just attempting this could kill them both!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Virtual Brownie Points to those who guess the identity of Malficent's ex.
> 
> Maleficent's backstory about loosing her child is inspired by her backstory in Once Upon A Time, which I think that is a much better backstory for the character compared to the Maleficent movie because it makes one of Disney's most popular villains sympathetic while still retaining the aspects of her character that fans know and love. Speaking of the life action movie, I'm ignoring the whole "why Maleficent doesn't have wings even though she's a fairy" idea because Cinderella's Fairy Godmother doesn't have wings, so I just figure it's easier to say that some fairies are just born without wings than to have to come up with an elaborate explanation for why those two don't have wings.
> 
> Maleficent being able to shapeshift comes from the Kingdom Keepers novels. Sorry if Maleficent seems OOC in this chapter. When I decided to borrow that part of her OUAT backstory for this fic, I figured that talking about it to anyone would be a personal/emotional subject, so she'd only let her guard down like that around someone she trusted.


	24. Magical Mystery

#### The Mysterious Tower – Sorcerer's Loft

#### July 12, 2015

"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted, staring at the man incredulously. This sparked a chorus of objections from nearly everyone else in the room. Outbursts ranged from "How could you even suggest such a thing?" to "Are you out of your mind?" Arguments quickly sprang up over whether or not waking Ven up was worth the risk of both his and Sora's lives. The din of debate raged for several minutes before one voice finally managed to break up the arguing and grab everyone's attention.

"I'll do it," Sora said as everyone turned around in shock. "Master Yen Sid's right. Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"But Sora, you could die," Kairi countered. "I... We… can't lose you."

"We all know that, Kairi," Riku added solemly. "But it's his choice."

"Ven's been stuck inside me for over a decade," Sora replied as he took Kairi's hand and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's time I gave him his life back."

"Very well then," Master Yen Sid spoke after taking a deep breath and a long sigh. "Aqua, since you are the only one who knows the location of Ventus' body, we need you to lead the way." After Aqua nodded her agreement, he continued. "Furthermore, the events in the Realm of Sleep have revealed that Xehanort had been using the Recuscant's Sigil to track Sora's movements during the exam. While the Sigil is no longer on Sora's chest, I have realized that his clothing still bears the sigil on his gloves and pants." Everyone looked at Sora's outfit and the terrible realization came over them of just how Xehanort could always remain one step ahead of them.

"The Recuscant's Sigil by itself is merely a magical tracking device," he continued. "Keybade Masters often used them to keep track of where their apprentices were when they were out in the worlds. However, with Xehanort's fall into darkness, he is now exploiting this feature to monitor where we are. He cannot see what we are doing, but the Sigil still lets him know what world you are currently on." This quickly sparked a discussion over what to do to prevent Xehanort from tracking them. Everyone was debating whether or not the straps that were a natural part of clothing were accidental Sigils or just harmless strips of fabric and leather.

However they quickly agreed that either way they didn't want to take that chance until Xehanort was vanquished. Since the straps on Aqua's outfit which formed the Sigil were merely decorative, she slipped out of the room to discretely remove and dispose of them. Meanwhile, the rest of the group came to the conclusion that the best way for Sora to avoid Xehanort's detection (since the straps on his pants helped hold his outfit together, he couldn't exactly take them off) was for the three fairies from Enchanted Dominion to give him a new outfit devoid of any straps that might accidentally form the sigil.

When everyone realized that the three fairies were coming, Kairi, Riku, and Lea all decided to use the opportunity for a wardrobe change as well. Sora ended up with an outfit that combined elements from his current one with his clothes worn during his Mark of Mastery, while also removing all the excessive straps. His new outfit was primarily black, with some areas of grey on his jacket, pants, and gloves; and red stripes on his jacket, knees, hood, and sleeves.

Lea now wore a black suit jacket over a white dress shirt he refused to tuck in, along with a pair of khaki pants chosen because they reminded him of his life before the Organization. Kairi ended up wearing the white tank top she wore under her pink dress, along with a longer pink version of the purple skirts she used to wear on Destiny Islands before her, Sora, and Riku's adventures first began. Riku decided to postpone his fitting until the "Wake-Up Team" had left, so as to be spared the mirthful teasing that would ensue when the three fairies inevitably conjured embarrassing outfits for him while arguing about color schemes.

Once everyone else who'd requested a new outfit had been given one, Yen Sid and the others discussed how best to divide their forces. Eventually it was decided that Kairi, Donald, and Goofy would accompany Sora and Aqua to Castle Oblivion, where Ven's body was being kept, while Riku and Mickey would focus on tracking down Maleficent. Lea would remain at the Tower until one of the two groups got back. While everyone else went downstairs to prepare the Gummi Ships for takeoff, Kairi told the others she needed to talk to Master Yen Sid about something before they left. Despite Sora's protests, she insisted on coming along for the trip to Castle Oblivion, but first she had to ask the sorcerer the questions that had been bugging her since Port Royal. The Keyblade Master's eyes widened as she told him of her bizarre encounter with Braig.

"And he told me that the only way to win was for me to "unchain myself," she finished. "I have no idea what he even meant by that but…."

"I do," the old sorcerer interrupted. Kairi looked up with shock to find the ancient Keyblade Master with a look of pure terror on his face. She wasn't sure what unnerved her more: the idea that if something went wrong Sora could die, or that whatever Braig was talking about was enough to terrify a Keyblade Master as powerful as Yen Sid. "In the days before the Keyblade War," he continued as he found his words again, "The wielders of the Keyblade were organized into five Unions: Anguis, Leopardos, Unicornis, Ursus, and Vulpeus." He conjured up images of five hooded figures wearing robes of blue, yellow, white, brown, and pink for visual aid. "These unions were led by the Foretellers," he went, on, gesturing toward the hooded figures, "ancient Keyblade Masters who could see into the future. Before the war, the Foreteller of the Vulpeus union began gathering young Keyblade Wielders around your age who lacked strong ties with their unions. The ones who were part of the group yet always acted on the fringe of it. Legends do not speak of what exactly unchaining is, but what we do know is that the light in the hearts of children that rebuilt the world did not just come from the Princesses of Heart. It also came from the young Key bearers who went through the process of unchaining under Vulpeus's instruction. These Unchained, though their bodies still age, are effectively immortal. I do not how they maintain their immortality if their bodies still age, or indeed very little else beyond this."

"But what does immortality have to do with knowing how to stop Xehanort?" the young woman asked, only growing more confused. "And if Braig was never a Keyblade wielder, how could he possibly know about the Unchained? Could Xehanort have told him?" Neither wanted to consider the far worse possibility: that Braig himself was an Unchained.

"No," the Keyblade Master answered quickly. "While I did train Xehanort, secrets such as the Unchained and the Foretellers are known only to the Master charged with governing The Land of Departure, which would now be Aqua. However, I do not believe Eraqus had the time to explain everything to her before his death, but he likely left notes and instructions behind in his study for her to read should he perish."

"So the best place to look for more research would be in Master Eraqus' study," Kairi concluded. "How exactly do we get to the Land of Departure though? Aside from Aqua, none of us have ever been there."

"You haven't," Yen Sid corrected, "but the others have. For you see, Castle Oblivion is the Land of Departure. The world's Keyhole, when locked by Master Eraqus' Keyblade, contains a defense mechanism that modifies the layout and appearance of the world to keep out unwanted visitors. Aqua is leading the mission because only she can safely navigate the labyrinthine traps of the Castle to return the world to its former state." Kairi nodded in understanding before getting up to go join the others.

"Thank you for listening, Master," she said as she bowed.

"Any time, my dear," Yen Sid replied as the Princess of Heart ran downstairs to board the Gummi Ship before the Castle Oblivion group left without her.  _She will be a fine Keyblade Master one day,_ the old man thought to himself with a smile as he watched the young woman go.  _I just hope that she is ready for the challenges that lie ahead of her._

* * *

#### Radiant Garden - Gardens

#### July 12, 2015

"This is a really amazing view," Paige said as she and Beck sat on the edge of the upper terrace in the gardens. Despite everything they'd heard about the user world from Tron, nothing could prepare them for the wonder of experiencing everything the world beyond the Grid had to offer. Beck and the other mechanics had gone with the user named Cid to see the repair shop for the cities vehicles, while she'd stayed behind at the medical clinic to help out fellow medics, where she received a crash course in how a user's body worked. The explanation of how users reproduced had been an eye-opening experience to say the least. Even more so when shortly after that talk, she'd had to help deliver a baby. Her reticence to trust users was gone now, replaced by her old medic training that made her thrilled to have the opportunity to learn and see how different healing was on the other side of the screen. "I gotta say, she continued. "I think users would probably be jealous of us programs if they all knew about the Grid."

"How so?" the mechanic asked as they looked out at the "flowers", as Leon called them, that were growing all over the walled area. One of the things they'd learned about the user world was that unlike the Grid, where everything fulfilled some purpose in the system's infrastructure, there were many things that users created which served no purpose beyond changing the aesthetic of a space.

"A lot of ways," she replied as she turned towards the entrance to the area where their friends were coming through carrying small white packages. "Take medicine, for instance. A user with access to the highest quality treatment their world has to offer takes at least a full cycle to heal an injury that a program with medical training like me can fix in a nano-cycle."

"I see what you mean," her boyfriend added as the others walked up the stairs toward where they were sitting. "Cid showed us how user vehicles work this afternoon. With a recorder tool, I can fix a light cycle quickly just by modifying the code. To fix a bike, a user has to spend a cycle taking it apart piece by piece until they find out what's wrong, fix the problem, and then spend another cycle putting it back together again." The subject quickly changed when the rest of their tour group reached their seat and handed the two of them each one of the white packages they were all carrying. "What's this?" he asked as Tron, Zed, and Mara sat down.

"Yuffie called it "Sea-Salt Ice Cream," Mara answered as she tore open the white package to reveal a small blue rectangle of an unknown substance. "Apparently users consume energy in solid form instead of only as a liquid like we do on the Grid." With that explanation, the five programs all took a bite out of their "ice cream" and immediately recoiled in surprise as an unfamiliar sensation flooded their mouths.

"What was that?" Zed asked as they all recovered from the shock of their first experience of taste.

"According to Flynn," Tron replied, "it's called taste. It's supposedly the sensation that "food" causes when you consume it. Apparently different foods create different sensations."

"I'll have to ask Yuffie what that taste was called, then," Mara added. "Because that was really good." Everyone voiced their agreement and took another bite. To programs who had never consumed solid food before, the simple act of eating ice cream for the first time became an unforgettable experience. The five programs continued to eat, marveling at the sensation the melting ice cream caused in their mouths.

"Flynn's dream was for our world and the user world to interact with each other peacefully," Tron said as he looked out at the surrounding space. "To share ideas and technology, so that both users and programs would be better off for knowing each other. I used to think that his idea was more than a little crazy, but after today, I'd say it might be on it's way to becoming a reality."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lea's outfit is partially inspired by his outfit as a teenager in BBS and the outfit of Reno from Final Fantasy VII. Kairi's outfit is basically a hybrid of her KH1 and KH2 outfits.


	25. Castle Oblivion

#### Castle Oblivion – Outside the Castle

#### July 13, 2015

"So this is Castle Oblivion, huh?" Sora remarked as the five heroes stood before the foreboding green and brown castle that had once been Aqua's home and the Organization's secondary base. Even if he didn't remember being here, the feeling of familiarity he got when looking at the ominous structure only confirmed that he had.  _I wonder what we'll find in there,_ he thought to himself as Aqua led the way along the bleak stone pathway towards the citadel's front entrances.  _But whatever's in there, I can handle it._ While he, Lea, and Kairi were being fitted for their new outfits, Riku, Mickey, Yen Sid, and Aqua discussed the layout of Castle Oblivion and what awaited them there. Mickey had originally believed that the illusions the Organization had used to manipulate Sora were Namine's doing, but Riku confirmed that this wasn't the case. Namine could manipulate the illusions because they were based on memories, but the illusions themselves were wholly the creation of Castle Oblivion itself.

Realizing that being near Ven's body would probably cause the illusions to mimic the boy's memories, Riku suggested that the trip to Castle Oblivion should be Sora's second chance to show the Mark of Mastery. Mickey had argued that it was too dangerous, but Riku had countered that the journey through the Realm of Sleep was equally dangerous. "Besides," he'd added. "As legitimate as Master Yen Sid's reasons for failing him are, he's still earned the title several times over after everything he's done." No one could argue with that statement, and so the other three Masters reluctantly agreed that braving the illusions of Castle Oblivion a second time would be the ideal opportunity for Sora to prove himself a Master, since without Namine to manipulate the illusions, Xehanort would not be able to manipulate events within the Castle the way he could in the Realm of Sleep.

When told that Castle Oblivion would be his second attempt at the Mark of Mastery, Sora had practically sprinted downstairs to the ship. After failing the last time, he was eager to prove that he had earned the rank of Master. Now, he stood at the threshold of Castle Oblivion for the second time in his life, preparing himself to face the challenges within and prove himself a Keyblade Master. With a nod to everyone else, he pushed open the doors leading to the entrance hall. Everyone strode into the hall, and Goofy shut the door behind them.

"So what exactly am I supposed to do for my exam?" Sora asked as he turned around to face the group.

"The Castle creates illusions based on the memories in your heart," Aqua explained. "Master Yen Sid just told me that you had to see what Ven had gone through. It will hurt, and the properties of the castle mean that as soon as you see Ven's memories, you'll forget them, and things won't exactly make sense. It'll be frustrating, and it'll make you angry. It may even hurt so badly that you feel like you're about to lose yourself. But don't worry, that won't happen to you. Mickey told me that you're like a sponge. No matter much much pain life throws at you, you'll suck it up and leave things a little bit better. Just follow your heart and you'll make it through. You don't have to do anything special. Do what you do – just be yourself. Riku tells me that's what you're good at, so just do what feels right for you."

"Alright," Sora said as he turned and reassured Kairi, Donald, and Goofy that he'd be alright before heading through the first door. After the doors closed, Aqua drew Master Eraqus' Keyblade and started waving it around the room until it glowed when she aimed it at a section of the wall just to the right of the door Sora had gone through.

"This way," she called out as she led the rest of the group toward the wall. As they got closer, a beam of light shot out from the tip of the blade, causing a section of the wall to open outward, revealing a secret passageway. "We'll meet Sora in the Chamber of Waking."

"Are you sure he'll be okay?" Kairi asked as she glance nervously at where Sora had left the room. "What if something goes wrong?" Donald and Goofy quickly nodded their agreement.

"If something goes wrong, then I'll go in and get him myself," Aqua answered as they made their way through the hidden passages of the Castle toward a hidden staircase that led directly to the top floor. "But I'm confident that he'll handle things with flying colors. I know you all want to go with him, but this is something he has to do by himself." As the group climbed the staircase, Kairi still couldn't help but feel worried about what Sora would see when he faced the illusions of Castle Oblivion.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sora had opened the doors only to find himself standing inside the Round Room in the World That Never Was.  _This must be the first illusion,_ he thought to himself as he stood on the raised central platform looking up at the tall white thrones of the Organization's meeting room. All thirteen seats were filled, including the one designated to Roxas, who just sat there with a blank look on his face.

"Good tidings friends," he heard Xemnas' voice call out from above. Sora turned to glare up at the Superior. "Today is a momentous day," the man continued, oblivious to the Keyblade wielder's presence. "I am pleased to announce that a new comrade has been chosen to wear the coat. Number XIV."  _Huh?_ Sora thought.  _Since when did the Organization have 14 members?_ He turned around to see a girl in a black coat, her face obscured by the hood of the uniform. Before the seventeen year old could say anything, the girl turned around to face Roxas, causing his Nobody to gasp. As quickly as it had begun, the scene before him ended, and Sora found himself walking out a pair of doors to find another set identical to the ones he'd just walked out of. But when he tried to reflect on what he'd witnessed, Sora found that he couldn't even remember  _what_ he had seen.

"What? Sora gasp aloud, confused. "Why can't I remember? I know everyone in there."

"Don't you remember?" A voice called out. Sora turned to find a figure wearing the Oragnization's signature black coat emerging from a corridor of Darkness. "Everything in this castle is just an illusion," the figure explained. "And once the illusions vanish, you'll forget all about the painful memories you've just seen.

"I'll forget?" Sora asked as he began to question the meaning of his test.  _How am I supposed to pass if I can't even remember what I'm seeing?_ He asked himself.

"Hey, no big deal," the figure in black replied. "The fact that you can't remember just means none of what you saw was very important to you to begin with. Isn't that right?"

"That's not true!" Sora snapped, angry that this person would even suggest such a thing. "Of course it's important to me. Okay maybe I forgot what just happened and who I saw inside that room. But trust me, I know I'll remember everything again."

"Sure," the figure retorted sarcastically. "By the way, you can go in and fight everyone if you want to?"

"What!?" Sora exclaimed, getting even more confused.

"What do you care?" the mysterious figure retorted bitterly. They're only strangers. Actually, they're just illusions of strangers. They'll only be there till they're not. Do you see where I'm going with this? Nothing's real. You can break their little non-existent hearts and forget about it. No hurt feelings, no baggage, it's that simple. You're 100 percent guilt free."

"That's what you think" Sora replied angrily.

"What?" Now the figure sounded confused.

"It's obvious you know nothing at all," the teenage Keyblade Wielder continued. "Everything you say is a lie. I might have the strength to hurt someone, but what exactly would be the point? I know that it would tear me up inside. That ache would stay with me for a long time. You might not know it now, but I hope you'll see that nothing's guilt-free in this world."

"You've arrived at the first question," the figure said ominously before silently fading into thin air, leaving only a confused Keyblade Wielder in their wake.

* * *

#### The World That Never Was – Grey Area

#### July 13, 2015

"They're at Castle Oblivion," Isa reported from where he stood near the large floor-to-ceiling windows of what used to be the old Organization's break room. Master Xehanort nodded solemnly.

"So they plan on attempting to reawaken Ventus," the old man replied calmly before turning to his one-eyed henchman. "Braig, follow them and see to it that you get to Ventus first. A body without a heart will be the perfect vessel to complete the circle."

"With pleasure," the one-eyed man replied before disappearing into a dark corridor. He emerged inside the sterile white halls of Castle Oblivion.

 _Perfect,_ Braig thought to himself as he opened the first door.  _Now all I have to do is catch up to them before the illusions kick in._

"Ephemer?" A girl's voice called out.  _Me and my big mental mouth,_ He chastised himself as he turned to look upon the illusion of the person who had called out his original name. Despite knowing it wasn't real, he couldn't help but gasp in shock.

"Ava?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bit about Namine not creating the illusions of Castle Oblivion and only influencing them is my head canon on the matter because yes, Namine can manipulate Sora's memories, she's never been shown to actually create illusions. So I surmised that the illusions themselves were the creation of Castle Oblivion, while Namine could only influence them because of her power over Sora's memories.


	26. Forgotten Challenge

#### Castle Oblivion - Second Floor

#### July 13, 2015

On the second floor, Sora witnessed Master Xehanort forcefully extract the darkness in Ventus' heart, creating a being of pure darkness called Vanitas. On the third floor, he witnessed his friend Riku duel a Keyblade-wielding girl in a black coat. On the fourth floor, he watched Ven be saved from the brink of death by his own newborn heart. On the fifth floor, he watched Riku and a girl named Xion discuss Sora's Namine-induced slumber. Each event he witnessed, he forgot as soon as he left the room. On the fifth floor, the hooded figure from earlier arrived to taunt him again.

"I can't remember anything at all, but you already knew that didn't you?" Sora said sarcastically as the figure appeared out of thin air.

"You seem pretty calm," the figure commented. "Guess you decided those things weren't worth stressing over. Out of sight, out of mind, right?"

"Wrong," Sora replied forcefully.

"What?" Now the figure was confused.

"It's like you said," the teenage Keyblade Wielder explained. "Everything I see, I can't remember, but I'm still frustrated I've forgotten all of it. I feel moments of loneliness. You said that there'd be no hurt feelings, but I am hurting. When the memories are gone, they leave a hole, and having that longing inside me hurts. But it'll help me somewhere down the road. It's the key I'll need to solve everything."

"Right on schedule," the figure remarked before vanishing again.

On the sixth floor, Sora watched Ven meet Terra and Aqua for the first time, only to fall into a coma after the amnesiac young man was badgered with questions by Terra about where he'd come from. On the seventh floor, he reacted with shock and anger to Xemnas' revelation that a girl called Xion was created as a Replica to copy his power for the Organization. The revelation shocked him, but his anger was directed at Xemnas, Xigbar, and Saix, for their callous disregard for others, even Replicas who deserved to be treated as more than just tools. He emerged into the seventh floor's exit hall to find the figure waiting for him yet again.

"The sadness of knowing you've forgotten someone or something that matters to you," they began. "Something like that will gnaw at you forever. But you somehow believe that by carrying around that kind of hurt, you'll be able to retrieve what you've lost, or what someone else has lost."

"Right" Sora replied, calmly and honestly. To his surprise, rather than criticize, the figure started laughing. "What's so funny?" the teen demanded.

"I can't believe you fell for it so easily," the cloaked figure answered. "In this place, to find is to lose, and to lose is to find. Well, you've lost memories and the only thing you've found in return is hurt, and by deciding that hurt was the key to remembering, you've given up all hope of ever being free from it. The hurt owns you now, Sora. Don't you see that? It's a wound that will never mend. That hole in your heart will grow bigger, until darkness finally claims it.

"Was this all just a trick to pull me in?" he asked, incredulous as to why illusions based on memories could be so malicious.  _Are the illusions drawing from my memories of my last visit here then?_ He asked himself as the figure replied.

"Afraid so," they answered. "And all it took was a handful of illusions. Your heart was just way too easy to break, Sora."

"That's not true!" Sora shouted angrily.

"It's not too late to turn back," the figure said before Sora could get angry enough to repeat his "The heart may be weak" speech from three years ago. "Why should you keep the hurt inside? Just tell yourself you need to forget about the people you met and the things you've seen in this place. There'll be nothing and no one to miss, no cause for loneliness. No hurt to keep eating away at your heart. It's your call, Sora. Cling to the memories you've lost, and the hurt they bring, till you're dragged into the darkness. Otherwise, let it all go, and you can be free and happy. The decision is yours." With that, the figure vanished, leaving the young man to continue to the eighth floor alone.

The eighth floor showed him a masked boy taunting Ventus by telling him that Terra was leaving him behind, and that he'd be a different person by the time Ven caught up. The ninth floor showed him a girl named Xion, as Namine explained to her that because she was a Replica made from Sora's memories, nobody would remember her once she had returned those memories. This revelation caused Sora to start crying, horrified that someone had to sacrifice their life for him to wake up and nobody could ever remember them. His sorrow only grew when Xion ran outside to confront Axel as he attacked the mansion. When he emerged into the ninth floor exit hall, Sora stopped to think of what was going on aloud.

"I'm all alone," he realized. "I hate feeling like this. I wonder… does this count as hurt? If I let it, will this pull me into the darkness?" He clenched his fist as he strengthened his resolve. "No. I can do this. There's no going back." And so he continued onward.

The tenth floor showed him images of Ven being taunted about his origins on Destiny Islands by a boy in a mask. On the eleventh floor, he wept alongside his Nobody as Roxas cradled a dying girl named Xion in his arms, barely able to remember who she was. The twelfth floor brought back the memory of the moment had had accept Ven's heart into his own. The young Keyblade Master had seen so much pain and suffering in the last twelve floors, and even though he had forgotten what exactly he'd witnessed, the hurt still remained. He emerged into the entrance hall of the Castle's top floor to find the same hooded figure waiting for him.

"I would ask if you enjoyed your little trip," the figure said sarcastically. "But we both know you've already forgotten it. Bet you're feeling pretty empty."

"No I'm not," Sora retorted. "I may not remember who I met, but I do remember that I met them. And knowing that I've forgotten them, I miss them."

"So you hurt," the figure remarked. "I warned you. Don't you remember what I said? That hurt will drag you down into the darkness. You have to get rid of all of it."

"No I don't," the young Keyblade Wielder fired back. "I can keep the hurt because it reminds me of something important. It lets me know that what I've forgotten is crucial. That's enough. I won't run from it. It'll stay inside of my heart until the day I remember.

"The darkness will take you first," his mysterious "guide" replied bluntly.

"If I put the hurt aside, I'll lose all my ties to the people who are connected to me," the young man answered. "My mind's made up. I may end up falling into the darkness, but I'll carry this with me. I'll only get rid of it when I remember everything, and not a day sooner than that. I'll keep the hurt with me for the time being. It's all that I have. It's what holds the pieces in place. I can accept that.

##### (Cue Vector to the Heavens)

"You say you accept it?" the girl in the back coat asked incredulously. "IT'S NOT A GAME!" With a stomp of her foot the girl in the black coat he'd been speaking to for the past twelve floors transformed the empty room into a battlefield. She and Sora stood on a large circular arena emblazoned with the insignia of Organization XIII. She leveled her Keyblade at Sora's shoulder, her voice broke, almost as if she was starting to cry. "IT'S PAST TIME THAT YOU LEARNED WHAT HURT REALLY FEELS LIKE!" With that, the two Keyblade Wielders clashed in a flurry of blades.

The two were almost evenly matched. The girl knew every move he would make before he made it. Every spell and technique in his repertoire she knew how to avoid and counter. And there was more than just a clash of blades at work. It was a clash of emotions as well. Tempered optimism versus jaded pessimism. Confusion and sadness against pent up anger and frustration. She rolled out of the way as he cast Firaga before firing off Ragnarok at him. Sora was able to cast Reflega in time to block all of the shots before retaliating with Thundaga. This managed to stun her long enough for him to get in a few good combos before she started blocking. After that she fired a Blizzaga spell in his direction. He jumped out of the way only for his foot to get caught in the blast.

As the girl ran toward him, dragging her Keyblade along the ground, Sora managed to muster the strength to swing the massive chunk of ice containing his frozen foot in the girls direction. The ice shattered as it connected with the barrier he knew she'd throw up at the last second, freeing up his feet as the fight continued. The longer the battle went on, the more it seemed like he was growing weaker and the girl was growing stronger, but eventually, after a few Thundaga spells and a few combos, he finally managed to defeat her. When he dealt his last blow, the circular arena vanished to be replaced the white walls of Castle Oblivion. He turned around to face the girl, who stood there holding a familiar Keyblade with his old Two Become One keychain. For a moment she just stood there, Keyblade at the ready as both of them panted heavily from exhaustion.

"Come on, Sora," the girl goaded. "Do It! Finish me off." When he refused to attack her any further, she grew confused. "Why won't you do it?" Slowly it dawned on her. "Now I get it. You've seen through my disguise. I'm just like everyone and everything else you've seen in this place – an illusion. I'm not even worth the effort. Is that what it is? Guess there's no point in destroying something if it never existed. Is that right?"

"No," Sora replied. "You say that you're an illusion but you really pack a punch. Sure it might have hurt while we were fighting, but the pain I felt was more than that. I sensed a different kind of pain from you. As if we'd been connected, like right then we shared the same hurt. If it somehow brings me closer to people in that kind of way, then carrying around a little hurt can't be all that bad."

"Can't be all that bad?" the girl asked incredulously. But after a moment, she let out a defeated sigh. "Alright, I give up. You passed. Congratulations Sora, you understand hurt."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, confused by what she meant.

"My role was to make sure you were ready to take ownership of all the pain inside you," she explained. "And now that role is done. Nothing left for me to do except go away."

"Where are you going to go?" Sora asked. Even if the girl in front of him was an illusion, he continued to treat her as nothing less than a real person. "Don't you have some place to call home?"

"I don't know if I really do," the girl answered sadly. "But there's a place I'd like to be."

"Where?" Sora asked curiously, but instead of answering, the girl walked right through him as she vanished. As she did, all of the memories of the other two people in his heart besides Roxas flooded his mind. "What is this?" he gasped as he clutched his chest as a storm of emotions associated with those memories flooded his heart. Joy. Sadness. Fear. Anger. Envy. Confusion. Despair. As the memories finally stopped, he finally understood. "You can rest easy," he said. "I've got you now." Though the girl he'd fought may have been an illusion, the illusion still represented a girl who was closely connected to him.  _Don't worry, Xion,_ he thought as he made his way through the labyrinthine halls of the top floor like he knew where he was going, Ven's heart guiding him all the way.  _You haven't been forgotten._

* * *

#### Mysterious Tower – Guest Rooms

#### July 13, 2015

Lea gasped as he shot up in bed. Memories he had forgotten about years ago flashed through his mind at the speed of light. With those memories came the guilt and frustration over what he had done to his forgotten friend. When it was over, he stood up and slumped against the wall.

"Xion…" he whispered, relived to finally remember his other friend yet upset that he forgot her in the first place. "I'm so sorry I forgot."

* * *

#### Castle Oblivion – The Chamber of Waking

#### July 13, 2015

Sora opened the hidden door to find Aqua and the others already waiting for him next to a large white chair.  _That must be where Ven's been for the last thirteen years,_ he thought to himself as they turned towards the doors at the sound of his arrival.

"You're okay!" Kairi called out as she ran over and hugged him enthusiastically. Sora was able to hug her back for all of three seconds before Donald and Goofy joined in.

"We knew you could do it," Goofy said.

"I never doubted you for a second," Donald added, prompting a teasingly raised eyebrow from everyone else in the room.

"Congratulations, Sora," Aqua said when the group hug finally broke apart. "You've passed the trials of Castle Oblivion and formally proven yourself a true Keyblade Master. We can celebrate some more later, but right now I think it's time we finish what we came here for." Nodding solemly, Sora walked over to the other side of the chair until he stood directly in front of where Ventus lay.  _He really does look a lot like Roxas,_ the newly minted Keyblade Master thought as Aqua came over and stood directly between him and Ven.  _I guess having his heart inside mine influenced Roxas's appearance somehow,_ he surmised before putting those thoughts aside and returning to the matter at hand.

"Are you ready?" Aqua asked as she drew her black-bladed Keyblade. When the young man nodded, she unsteadily leveled the blade so that the tip of the weapon was inches from his chest. The blue-haired master was initially hesitant. After all, if anything went wrong it would just be Sora who'd suffer. However, when he grabbed the shaft of the Keyblade and looked at her solemnly, understanding dawned on her. She let go of the Master's Defender and stepped back.  _He has to do this alone,_ she realized.  _Just like facing the illusions._

"What's going on?" Donald asked as Aqua took a step back. Behind the duck, Kairi took a step forward.

"This is something he has to do himself," Aqua explained to the others what she had realized. "Sora was the one who accepted Ven into his heart. Only he can open the door and let him out." With a reassuring smile, Sora plunged the blade into his heart. There was no fanfare, no big speech, just a Keyblade to the chest. Fortunately, since the Keyblade was not literally reaching into his heart, there was no blood. Only a small glowing light where the blade pierced the new master's chest. After a few minutes of what appeared to be strained concentration, Sora finally withdrew Master's Defender from his chest, a glowing heart attached to the tip, emitting a soft but warm light. He carefully moved over to Ven's comatose body and gently used the Keyblade to guide the sleeping boy's heart into its original body. When he finally finished, Sora almost collapsed from the strain and exhaustion.

"Sora!" Kairi gasped as she ran over to catch him before he fell. Donald and Goofy quickly raced over to help while Aqua stood between her fellow master and the chair, her eyes darting back and forth between the two boys, waiting to see what would happen next.  _Did it work?_ She asked herself as a full minute passed and her friend still hadn't woken up.  _If he can't wake up, I don't know what I'll..._ a voice she hadn't heard in over a decade, cracked from years of disuse snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Aqua?" As soon as she heard her surrogate younger brother's voice for the first time in thirteen years, she turned around, pulled Ven out of the chair, and hugged him. Behind her, Kairi and Goofy helped Sora (who was feeling extremely weak and shaky from the strain of removing Ventus's heart) over so that he and Ven could be officially introduced. With a chuckle, Aqua released her friend from the bear hug long enough for her to summon the Master's Defender back to her hand and walk behind the chair in order to use the Keyhole to change the world back to its original form.  _Hang in there, Terra,_ she thought as she began crying tears of joy.  _We're coming for you._

* * *

#### Castle Oblivion – Third Floor

#### July 13, 2015

 _Uh oh!_ Braig thought to himself as the Castle began to shake uncontrollably.  _I take it they've woken Ven up and are turning this place back into the Land of Departure._ With that, the sniper bailed out through a dark corridor, knowing that his mission had failed at the expense of dredging up unpleasant memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Including when specific tracks start in a chapter isn't a recurring thing, I just thought for the reveal of who was under the hood of the Castle Oblivion figure this time was worth making an exception.
> 
> I thought it would be fitting for Sora to be the one to do wake up Ven as a bit of a book end. As for the voice thing, he may not have aged thanks to whatever magic was keeping him in stasis (He clearly hasn't changed between BBS and his scene in the chamber in 3D), but I figured it would make sense for him to be a little disoriented after waking up in his own body after being out of it for so long.
> 
> I know Xion seems a bit uncharacteristically bitter but two things 1) this is an illusion of Xion meant to test the strength of Sora's heart. 2) As with Data-Roxas in Re:coded, when you look at everything Xion's been through she is entirely justified in acting so bitter. Honestly, you can interpret the situation two ways: either it's just an illusion and Castle Oblivion was basing her behavior on how bitter her circumstances could possibly make her , or Xion was able to manipulate the illusion from within Sora's heart and is using her bitterness towards Sora as a form of catharsis. She basically had to die in order for Sora to live, and nobody even remembered her, so now that Sora's in a place where what he sees is based on the memories in his heart, she's basically using it as an opportunity to stealthily release her pent up rage and frustration at what happened to her. Honestly, I see it as a little of both.
> 
> I know Data-Namine showed Mickey a bundle of memories in Sora's heart that weren't his in re:coded, but I headcanon that as "the memories aren't literally being stored inside the datascape, Namine just included a copy of them for her data self to show Mickey and Data-Sora what she's talking about, and the actual memories themselves are still inside Sora's heart."
> 
> Like many others, I believe that Two Become One is the ideal choice for Xion's personal Keyblade.
> 
> The Re:coded dialogue comes from the HD remix cutscenes. No particular reason why, I just ended up going with it because it was the first version I came up with on YouTube when searching for videos to make sure I got the dialogue right.


	27. Land of Departure

#### The World That Never Was – Corridor

#### July 13, 2015

"Hey, Xehanort!" Braig called out as he raced after the white-haired incarnation of Ansem's former apprentice. When Master Xehanort began to reform after Xemnas' death, Terra's heart needed to go somewhere, so the body was split in two, in a bizarre form of mitosis. One body for Master Xehanort's heart, and the other for Terra's and the piece of Xehanort's used to control him. So Terra's new body retained the appearance of Xehanort when he had been Ansem's apprentice. But even so, the traces of Terra were still there deep down. Braig just needed to see how deep they were. "I just got back from Castle Oblivion," he continued when the young man who used to be Terra finally turned and acknowledged his presence. "Couldn't find the body of your old friend."

"What do you mean?" Ansem's former apprentice asked as he tilted his friend in curiosity.  _Oh boy,_ the sniper thought to himself.  _Looks like I'll have to dig really deep._

"I mean we're still looking for Ventus of course," the Freeshooter answered, lying through his teeth to see what results he would get. "A body without a heart makes the perfect vessel for the old man, and he's labelled the kid as top priority. I don't know about you, but I…." He'd been expecting the punch to the face, but it was no less stunning when it happened. He crumpled to the ground in a heartbeat.

"If anyone goes near Ven, I'll kill them myself," the man snapped angrily. But this time, his voice was different. Younger.  _I stand corrected,_ the Organization's former number II realized as he picked himself up off the floor.  _All he needed was the right motivation._

"Nice to see you're still in there, Terra," Braig replied sarcastically as he rubbed his jaw, unfazed at being threatened. When all he received in response to his comment was a glare, he decided to cut to the chase. "I know how to take back control of your body, you know."

"I'll pass," the young man said, knowing that his moments of freedom were few and far between. "You can't be trusted not to blab to Xehanort. If having part of his heart inside us means we can hear his thoughts in our heads, there's no way of trusting whether he can do the same for us."

"He can't," the one-eyed former soldier answered bluntly. "Most of you don't even have your own will anymore because you didn't take part of his heart willingly. I did. This gives me enough free will to carry out my real mission: preventing the Keyblade War."

"And your idea of doing that is helping Xehanort trigger it," Terra retorted sarcastically. "That sounds like a great idea."

"The universe isn't ready for a real Keyblade War," the sniper replied in a hushed, conspiratorial whisper. "Not for another two thousand years at least."

"And how would you know that?" the other man asked cautiously.

"Because I was there for the last one," Braig answered honestly. Terra's eyes now widened in shock and confusion.

"But that would mean…." He began.

"I'm immortal. I know," the Freeshooter responded. "One of the many "gifts" of being an Unchained. Anyway, the universe won't be ready for another Keyblade War for at least two millennia, so by subtly sabotaging the old man's master plan every step of the way, we can make sure that he will ultimately fail in his goals. I can teach you how to control the tiny piece of Xehanort inside your chest rather than the other way around, but I need something in exchange to help throw a spanner in the works."

"What's that?" Terra asked cautiously. His body had been Xehanort's host for several years now. If what Braig was asking for wasn't too high a cost, then it would be worth it in order to final be able to move of his own free will again. There was one thing that bothered him though. "And how am I able to be here right now? My mind was trapped inside my armor back in the Keyblade Graveyard. How did I go from there back to my body?"

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot. You're welcome for that, by the way," Braig answered. "You see, around two years ago, shortly before the destruction of my Nobody, I set up a portal connecting Disney Castle to the Graveyard. More specifically, to the part of the graveyard where you and your living armor were taking a nap." As he said this, Terra nodded as he recalled the duel between his rage-animated armor and the boy named Sora. "And by defeating your empty suit of armor in battle, Sora was able to release your mind from the armor so it could go back to your body when you reformed. Which brings me to what I want from you. The armor. Xehanort can't keep track of every single thing at once. Only the combined power of the seven Princesses can get rid of that piece of Xehanort in our hearts, but if we can use your old armor to get the old man to think you've somehow slipped the leash and gone rogue…"

"It'll throw him off his game, and his plans will start to collapse," Terra finished as he followed the other man's train of thought. The younger man took a few minutes to contemplate his options before deciding whether or not to except Braig's offer.  _He's been helping Xehanort out for years. He can't really be trusted, can he?_ He thought to himself.  _On the other hand, if he's telling the truth, then maybe I can finally have my body back. If he's lying and it's a trick by Xehanort, then it'll just be his mind in control while I struggle to break free from the inside like it's always been for the last thirteen years. What have I really got to lose?_ After another minute of internal debate, he made his decision.

"I'll take your deal," he began. "On one condition."

* * *

#### The Land of Departure – Apprentice's quarters

#### July 13, 2015

 _After all this time, he's finally back,_ Aqua thought as she watched Ven fall asleep on his bed after helping him upstairs from the throne room. His heart may be back in his body, but the transition was still exhausting for both him and Sora, so both of them were going to rest for a few hours before the group headed back to the Mysterious Tower. Yen Sid had taught her the spells he'd used to barricade his world from the forces of Darkness before they'd left the Mysterious Tower, so she'd used the same technique now to seal off the Land of Departure, so that Xehanort could not set foot on the world while they were out fighting him.

* * *

"So," Sora asked his Nobody and Replica as they sat on the Paopu Tree on the small island inside his heart. "What do you want to do when you guys finally get out of my body and can go off and be your own people?" He'd been communicating with his Nobody through dreams since the end of his previous attempt at the Mark of Mastery Exam, and now that he knew about Xion, his replica had now joined in the dream conversation as well.

"Sora," Xion began, "you don't have to do any of that for us. You couldn't live on without us merging back into you. You don't need to worry about dragging us back out. You're a better person than either of us anyways."

"Will you two just stop that already?" he interrupted. "I don't mean to be rude, Xion, but I got enough of that speech about having to live for all of us in the Dream Realm from Roxas. And my decision hasn't changed. The Key to Return Hearts can separate your hearts from mine. You deserve to be your own people, not stuck seeing everything through my eyes for the rest of my life. I'm going to get you guys your lives back, and that's final." Though they did not say anything, the looks on Roxas and Xion's faces made it clear how moved they were. For their entire existences, everyone had told them that they had no right to exist as their own people. Both of them were touched that after being told their sole purpose in life was to merge with Sora so that he would be at full strength, the guy himself was the first person to argue the opposite: that they deserved to live separately from him.

"Well," Roxas said, realizing that his original self wasn't going to take no for an answer, "After my fight with Riku, Ansem the wise had Namine give me fake memories and put me inside a virtual simulation of Twilight Town. I was friends with Hayner, Pence, and Olette in there."

"Right," Sora added as he recalled his reaction to leaving Twilight Town for the first time.

"Anyway," Roxas continued. "Xion and Lea are still my best friends, but when I get to live in my own body again, I want to be friends with Hayner and the others for real." Sora and Xion smiled. They both figured that would be something Roxas would want to do.

"So what about you, Xion?" Sora asked as the three of them sat staring out at the sunset.

"I really don't know," the girl answered. "I didn't get the whole fake memories in Twilight Town thing that Roxas had, but I've always wanted to go to the beach. Not for a mission, and not in dreams or through memories or whatever, but to actually sit and experience everything for myself, without having so many memories in my head that aren't mine telling me what I should feel about the place." The three continued their discussion for several hours, until Sora finally woke up.

* * *

 _Sora's never looked so fragile before,_ Kairi thought to herself as she closed the door to the spare bedroom she and Goofy had helped him into.  _I know he's a Keyblade Master and everything, but I've never seen him this worn out before._ She knew that Sora could take care of himself, but she was still worried for him. They had talked about their mutual drawing of the paopu fruit in the secret place a little, but not enough to really say what they needed to say. Both of them cared about each other very deeply, on a level that was more than just friendship. But they were also both afraid to make the first move themselves, for fear of what would happen if something went wrong with a relationship. Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Kairi continued through the castle in search of Aqua, so that she could ask for directions to Eraqus' study and finally get some answers.

"Hey Aqua," she called out when she finally found the blue-haired woman. "Do you know where you're master's study is?"

"Why?" Aqua asked, curious and – as Kairi noted – a bit suspicious at the sudden question. In order to prevent a misunderstanding the Princess of Heart quickly explained her encounter with Braig in Port Royal when she was separated from the group during the fighting. She then went on to explain that she had discussed Braig's cryptic warnings and suggestions with Master Yen Sid, along with what the old sorcerer had told her about the Unchained. By the time Aqua understood Yen Sid's theory that her late master probably left notes in his study for her to find detailing the secret knowledge he hadn't had the chance to tell her before his death, the suspicion was gone from her eyes, and she was happy to help Kairi get to the bottom of this little mystery, as well as see her mentor's handwriting one last time.

When they walked into the study, they found a large book sitting on top of a few sheets of paper. Kairi gently lifted the heavy tome long enough for the older woman to slip the papers out from underneath. While Aqua began crying tears of joy as she began reading her Master's will and the other documents he'd left her, Kairi's attention was drawn to a small wrapped package sitting on one of the bookshelves. The front of the package displayed a pink circle with a golden fox head in the center. She had never seen it before but the emblem somehow seemed familiar to her. Picking it up off the shelf, she turned the small brown rectangle around to find the words "For Ava" written across the back.  _That's what Braig called me back in Port Royal,_ she thought to herself as she turned the package around once more.  _Should I open it then?_

Curiosity ultimately got the better of her, and Kairi carefully removed the brown paper wrapping. Aqua was so engrossed Eraqus' will and instructions that she didn't even notice. Inside the package was a picture frame with a white card placed on top to hide the photo. Written on that card was a message that set the ball rolling in terms of the revelations to come.

 _"_ _Ava,_

_Forgive me. Your worst fears have come to pass, and I have failed you. Though I and my fellow Unchained were able to restore the world from the darkness which consumed it, it was only because I failed to prevent your murder that the Keyblade War occurred in the first place. The only good to come from the horrors of the War is that the world still exists, even if in a fractured form. Being an Unchained allows me to see the true secrets of Kingdom Hearts, and the knowledge that you and the other Foretellers will be returned to us one day has helped to ease the pain of your sudden passing. But it is bittersweet, for though we know that you will be reborn again someday, you will not remember who you are. Your memories of who you were before will have been completely erased by then. But you must have expected such a situation. You were always more forward thinking than than the other Foretellers. Always preparing for any potential outcome. That's why you left me this group photo of yourself and the other Foretellers, so that it may one day reawaken the memories of your past. At least I hope they can be reawakened. In this time of chaos and uncertainty, we need your guidance now more than ever._

_Your faithful servant,_

_Ephemer."_

Confused about the rest of the information, the idea that Braig believed that she was supposedly the reincarnation of Ava at least helped to answer one of the questions she had running around in her head. Deciding to discuss the rest of her questions with Aqua, she removed the note and placed it on the desk behind her so that she could examine the photo first. When she saw it, she gasped. Aqua looked up from her reading (having moved to the more comfortable reclining chair in the corner) and asked what was wrong, but Kairi didn't hear her. Her attention was transfixed on the photo, and the photo alone. On the far right stood Aqua, wearing the blue robes of the Anguis Foreteller. Seated on the right side of the bench in the front was Ventus dressed in the golden clothes of Leopardos. The center of the photo was occupied by Riku in the white and grey colors of Unicornis. On the far left, a man that Kairi knew from the photos Aqua had shown her was Terra stood still in the various browns of Ursus. And on the left side of the bench, she saw herself, sitting there in the pink outfit of Master Ava, Foreteller of the Vulpeus Union. In her shock and confusion, the picture frame slipped out of her hands, the sound of shattering glass ringing in her ears like an explosion compared to the silence of the study.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's never been explicitly confirmed, but I came up with this brilliant idea that the battle against the Lingering Will in Kingdom Hearts 2 final mix is canon. Braig's explanation ties into my headcanon basically.
> 
> Shoutout to KHInsider Forums user Gelandporn, whose Rebirth theory inspired me to write this fic. It's such an amazing theory I'm holding out hope that part of it is true even though the likelyhood of that decreasses with every new bit of story news for Union X or Kingdom Hearts III


	28. The Promised Beginning

#### The World That Never Was – Braig's Quarters

#### July 13, 2015

"So now what?" Terra asked as he gripped the bed, relieved to finally be able to move around in his own body under his own free will without struggling to prevent Xehanort from reasserting control. "If Xehanort gets his hands on Ven…"

"Relax," Braig interrupted as he searched through the books and papers in his closet. "You're friend's fine. Your girlfriend already woke him up. That's why I bailed on the Castle Oblivion mission."

"Aqua's not my girlfriend," the formerly possessed Keyblade Wielder replied. Nevertheless, he still breathed a sigh of relief knowing that his little brother was alright.

"Whatever," the sniper continued. "There's no point in denying it to me. Being alive for eight thousand years taught me to be really good at reading people. Anyway, the keystone of the plan now is to make sure we're assigned on missions that will allow us to sabotage the old man's plans without looking suspicious. Nor can we ever acknowledge you being freed from the whole possession thing in the presence of any of the old man's other vessels, even if your friends are there."

"Just great," Terra replied sarcastically before inquiring about their next move. "So what are our options as far as sabotage goes?"

"The old coot thinks that there might be a way to call forth our top pick for the empty chair hidden somewhere in the Keyblade Graveyard. The old man can't track our every move, but he can still sense what world we're on. If we both get volunteered for the Graveyard mission, we can recover your armor and tell old baldy that we didn't find anything." Terra reluctantly grinned at that. Xehanort had manipulated him so long ago, and now it was time to return the favor.  _I just wish I didn't have to owe my freedom from the old man's control to Braig. Seemingly well intentioned or not, he's still hiding something. I don't know what it is he really wants, and I don't know if I can really trust him not to stab me in the back later on._ But despite his misgivings, the young Keyblade Wielder didn't have any other options right now.

* * *

#### Land of Departure – Ven's room

#### July 13, 2015

After thirteen years in a coma, Ventus reflected as he climbed out of his own bed for the first time since the morning of Terra and Aqua's exam, he felt that he'd slept enough that he wouldn't need to for another week. With a chuckle, he opened the door to his room to find a familiar white duck standing outside his door.

"Hey Donald," he greeted warmly as he started walking through the halls, shaking off the last bits of fatigue as he set out in search of Aqua. With the master dead, she was in charge of the castle, so he figured that she had gone to his study to see if he left her any notes on what she needed to do.  _Even if it was thirteen years ago,_ the boy thought to himself as he and Donald rounded a corner to find Goofy standing in front of one of the guest rooms, where Sora appeared to be recovering as well,  _it's still hard to believe that Master Eraqus is really gone. I know he tried to kill me, but after everything Xehanort put me through, Eraqus was more of a mentor and a father figure than that maniac ever was._ He resolved to hold it in until later though, so that he could talk to Aqua about it in private, and perhaps even hold a belted funeral for their dead teacher, and allow the two pupils to properly mourn their loss. His mood brightened as the Keyblade Master who saved his life emerged from the guest room looking fully dressed and battle ready.

"Hey Ven," Sora called out warmly as he and Goofy joined Donald and the other Keyblade Wielder in their search for Aqua and Kairi. "How'd you sleep?" Compared to the formerly comatose boy, Sora had slept a little longer, but he still felt drained from removing Ven's heart.

"Honestly," the younger Key Bearer replied, "after being stuck inside your heart for the last decade or so, I feel like I've had enough sleep to last me a week." The two boys chuckled as they made their way through the castle. Despite being stuck inside his heart for over ten years, Ven had never really been able to interact with Sora like Roxas and Xion did, probably because they had split off from Sora, while Ven hadn't and was only staying there temporarily. But it felt good to finally bond with the guy who saved his live twice. The duo spent the trip through the halls of the castle discussing topics ranging from how each had met Donald and Goofy, their favorite worlds to visit as tourist attractions, and the best part of traveling between the worlds, to how they came to wield the Keyblade, their adventures, and what their training had been like. The bonding session came to a close as they walked into Eraqus' study to find Aqua and Kairi standing next to the desk, holding a piece of paper and staring at it with looks of shock, confusion, and sadness on their faces.

"Hey, Aqua…" the blonde-haired boy began.

"You all need to see this," the blue-haired master interrupted, gesturing them to come over and read the piece of paper for themselves. Ven, Sora, Donald, and Goofy quickly took this as a sign that whatever was written on that paper was either too terrifying or too shocking to even attempt to explain out loud. As the new arrivals made their way toward the two ladies, they took note of the shattered picture frame on the floor next to Master Eraqus' desk. They didn't say anything, although the fact that neither of the two girls made any effort to clean it up told them that one of them had accidentally dropped the frame only to find what was probably a letter hidden inside. When the four reached the duo, Aqua handed them the paper, and the duo began to read as Aqua used a low-level Gravity spell to gather all the shards of glass in one place before freezing them with Blizzard for easier disposal, while Kairi slumped into the chair in the corner in shock.

_"_ _Ava,_

_Since you're reading this, I assume you found the photo I left for you. I managed to sneak in and hide it in this room without the Keyblade Master in charge of this world knowing I was ever there with the help of stealth and infiltration skills perfected after almost eight millennia of practice. Congratulations on following the trail of bread crumbs you instructed me to set up for yourself so many years ago. If you haven't remembered already, then you've probably got a million questions running through your head right now, so let's hit these plot points in order. First up would be the Unchained. All the legends of the Keyblade War will tell you is that we are immortal. But there is so much more to us than that._

_We understand the true nature of Kingdom Hearts and the universe. As Unchained, we recognize that the world is like a phoenix. Every ten thousand years, it will either burn itself to death in the fires of the Keyblade War and be reborn from the ashes, or avoid the conflict for another ten millennia. A natural cycle of death and renewal. That cycle of rebirth extends to the hearts of living beings as well. Some believe Kingdom Hearts to be the heart of all worlds. Others believe it to be the heart of all men. Both are wrong. The true Kingdom Hearts is comprised of the hearts of both worlds and men, and contrary to expectations, it is constantly changing._

_The best way to describe Kingdom Hearts is like a giant washing machine. The hearts of the deceased are absorbed into it, cleansed of the darkness within, cleared of all memories, and sent back out into a newborn body. Any who believe that Kingdom Hearts can create new hearts are sadly mistaken. Every being in the universe is reincarnated continually. That is why there are always seven Princesses of Heart. As soon as one dies their heart is quickly rushed through Kingdom Hearts to be reborn in a new body with a new identity. What makes I and my fellow Unchained special is that we retain the knowledge of our past lives after undergoing a process that unlocks our memories and preserves them when our hearts return to Kingdom Hearts. This cycle of reincarnation and renewal has been going on for so long that even we can't remember how long ago the first war was._

_As for the whole reincarnation thing, when Kingdom Hearts clears a heart's memories, some things like personalities and motivations remain, like deep-seeded stains that can never be removed. In the days before the Keyblade War, the warriors of the Keyblade were led by the Foretellers of the five Keyblade Unions. Anguis, Leopardos, Ursus, Unicronis, and Vulpeus. There was a sixth foreteller whose name has never been recorded, but from contact with my fellow Unchained, his current reincarnation goes by the name of Xehanort. What ultimately began the Keyblade War was infighting amongst the five while Xehanort's past incarnation fanned the flames._

_The last time I made contact with fellow unchained was a year ago, and between the three of us, we were able to deduce the identities of four of the five foretellers. Unicornis was reborn as a boy named Riku on the Destiny Islands. Anguis, Ursus, and Leopardos are currently training to become Keyblade Masters under the names Aqua, Terra, and Ventus respectively. And then a year later, you were reborn as Kairi, Princess of Heart, niece of Ansem the Wise, and – until he has kids of his own, which is as likely to happen as a snowstorm in Agrabah – heir to the throne of Radiant Garden. Any my last communication with another Unchained indicates that Xehanort is already trying to re-forge the X – Blade. With three fifths of the Foretellers not even close to being ready, and two thousand years left in the cycle, it's up to me to delay Xehanort's obsession for as long as I can. The worlds as we know them are not ready for the next Keyblade War, and if I have to go up against a Foreteller on my own to save the rest of the universe, then so be it._

_Your faithful servant,_

_Braig_

_Formerly Ephemer"_

For a few minutes everyone could only stare at the paper in shock. This discovery was earth-shattering. Ven, Donald, and Goofy continued to reread the note, as if hoping that the words will change it and they imagined what they said. Sora went over to the chair and hugged Kairi, knowing that this revelation was rocking her world and she needed all the comforting she could get. After a few minutes of silence, Aqua finally spoke.

"We need to tell Master Yen Sid," she said. "This changes everything."

"How are we supposed to stop Xehanort when we're doomed to fight among ourselves?" Ven asked bleakly. "It's hopeless."

"No, it's not," Sora disagreed as he helped Kairi out of the chair. "Just because things ended badly the last time doesn't mean that everything has to happen the same way each time. And I don't care about the whole reincarnation thing either. It doesn't matter who we all used to be or what we did during the last Keyblade War. Our destiny doesn't have to be set in stone. What matters is who we are and what we do now." Although everyone was still wary about repeating the mistakes of the past, Sora's little speech nonetheless managed to bring everyone out of their collective stupor and raise the group's morale.

"You're right, Sora," Aqua said as Ven, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy quickly crowded around him into another group hug. "There's always hope." With that she quickly joined in the group hug. Deep down, she knew that they would succeed where the Foretellers, past lives or not, had failed.  _Because this time, there's no infighting,_ she thought to herself.  _This time, we're all on the same team._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For clarification, Braig's note was written three years before Birth By Sleep.
> 
> If you've seen Legend of Korra you can probably see the parallels I'm going for with this reveal. There's still more to this whole reincarnation thing, but that will come later. Terra's whole mental comments on Braig hiding something are because Braig hasn't told him about the reincarnation part yet. The whole thing with Braig is that he's been alive for thousands of years, and as an Unchained, he keeps the memories of his past lives every time he's reincarnated. His Keyblade War incarnation (Ephemer from Kingdom Hearts X/Unchained X) comes across as fairly idealistic, but I figured that over several millennia, he's essentially become a well-intentioned extremist. It's not so much doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. He basically sees it as his responsibility to protect the worlds by any means necessary. The reincarnation idea was based off this amazing Rebirth theory by KHInsider user Gelandporn, so I thank them for coming up with a theory that makes so much sense I hope it's true. The arguments he makes in favor of the idea make a lot of sense.
> 
> I also found out someone made some awesome [fan-art,](post/99361056228/those-foretellersi-wonder-if-theyre-still-around) of this theory on tumblr:


	29. Empire of the Sun

#### Empire of the Sun – The Secret Lab

#### July 11, 2015

"The space is ready," the diminutive gerbil – like creature said as he and his red-furred henchmen began moving the beakers and brews into what the green woman had called a Corridor of Darkness. As part of the alliance that Yzma had made with Maleficent shortly after deposing Kuzco, she would serve as a mad scientist, brewing her potions for the cabal of villains' use in their plans for conquest, and in exchange, they would support her claim to the throne. A table of beakers and an extra potions cabinet would remain here in her secret lab, but the rest of her equipment was being moved to the groups' main laboratory on a world called "San Fransokyo." From there she could come and go to provide potions work for Maleficent's new empire.

"Very well," Yzma replied. "Once everything is set up, I can start making potions again. But tell Maleficent I expect a full contingent of Leroys as my personal guard as payment."

"No need to be impatient," the green-skinned woman interrupted as she appeared from another dark corridor. "You will be given enough weapons and guards to destroy an opposition to your rule."

"Perfect," Yzma answered ecstatically. "With my position on the throne secure, I can help with your potions with ease. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to put up with the formality of holding my successor's funeral." With that, the horrifically ancient hag left the room to change for the ceremonies, a squad of Leroys following behind as her personal bodyguards.

* * *

#### Empire of the Sun – Open Fields

#### July 13, 2015

"I don't think any of us have ever been to this world before," Mickey said as he and Riku teleported from their Gummi Ship into a large field. Lea had uploaded all of the reconnaissance information that the Organization had collected on different worlds into the navigation computer before their departure, so the fact that there was no information on this world meant that they were more likely to find Maleficent here than Xehanort. But that still meant that they needed to figure out if Maleficent was even on this world to begin with.

"I agree," Riku replied as they started walking toward the mountain that appeared to have some kind of palace on top. Eventually, they found a man in green sitting near a herd of llamas. As they approached him, he looked up at them, and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their heads. Before the two visitors could say anything, he spoke.

"You two aren't from around here, are you?" the portly man asked. Surprised that the man had figured them out so quickly, and knowing that there was no point in being subtle about it, Riku and Mickey went ahead and explained who they were to the stranger. They explained the whole "other worlds" story, but left out the parts about Xehanort and Maleficent, figuring that until the worlds of the alliance began trading with each other on a regular basis, there was little point in freaking out the citizens of worlds that weren't part of the alliance yet.

The man, who introduced himself as Pacha, told them about how Emperor Kuzco had been summoned the village leader to the palace to be informed of his plan to demolish the village. Riku and Mickey were appalled by this, and Pacha explained how he'd returned home to find that the emperor had somehow been transformed into a llama and ended up on the back of his cart. The two Keyblade Masters admired the fact that Pacha continued to follow the self-obsessed emperor because despite his arrogance and vanity, Pacha felt that the newly-transformed llama didn't deserve to die, and the Key bearers couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of the pair's adventures.

"So there we were, standing on the cliff," Pacha said as he described the reason he felt that the emperor-turned-llama could still change. "And the ground started to rumble. And just as it started to go, he grabbed me before I fell. Do you believe that? You know, call me crazy for following this guy all the way out here, but as much as he tries to deny it, I know he's got some good in him. Besides, I couldn't just leave him out here all alone. He's a lousy Llama. He's a lousy llama. I mean a really lousy llama." He smiled as he looked up. Riku and Mickey turned around to see a llama with red and black fur standing nearby.  _This guy must be Emperor Kuzco, then,_ Riku thought as Pacha walked over to the llama.

"Hey listen, Pacha," the llama, who they figured was Kuzo, said. "You know, what I said to you back at the diner, that… I… I didn't really…" he stopped as Pacha, raised his hands.

"So," the village leader said warmly. "You tired of being a llama?"

"Yeeeeessss!" the human-turned-llama sobbed as tears formed in his eyes. After introducing Riku and Mickey to Emperor Kuzco, the group of four took off through the jungle. They were going to make a quick pit stop at Pacha's village before making their way back to the palace. Kuzco explained that his former advisor, an incredibly ancient woman named Yzma, had turned him into a llama after an attempt to poison him failed when her assistant, a muscular man named Kronk, accidentally got the poison mixed up with a potion that transformed the young emperor into a Llama. When they were attacked by Heartless along the way, Riku and Mickey explained to the emperor about the events leading to the formation of the Daybreak Coalition. Horrified at what Xehanort and Maleficent had done and were capabale of, Kuzco agreed to add his empire to the alliance once he was turned back into a human.

"Okay," Pacha said as the four of them raced out of the jungle towards his village. "We're just going to stop at the house and get some supplies."

"Then we'll be on our way right?" Kuzo asked as they reached the bottom of the hill.

"Right!" Pacha answered before they were interrupted by a pair of elderly villagers sitting at the base of the hill playing checkers.

"Hey there, Pacha," the fat one greeted. "You know, you just missed your relatives."

"My relatives?" Pacha asked confused. Mickey and Riku exchanged a glance, if this Yzma woman and her henchman Kronk were hunting for Kuzco, then it was possible that if they could link Kuzo to Pacha, they might try to pass themselves off as distant relatives in order to search his house for the missing emperor-llama.

"Yeah," the skinny old man replied. "We just sent 'em up to your house."

"What did they look like?" he asked.

"Well you see there was this big guy," the skinny one went on. "And this older woman who was… how would you describe her?"

"Scary beyond all reason," the fat one offered.

"Yeah, that's it," the skinny one finished.  _Must be Yzma and Kronk then,_ Mickey guessed from the way Kuzco's jaw dropped.

* * *

#### Empire of the Sun – Pacha's House

#### July 13, 2015

"So," Chicha, Pacha's wife began as she poured a cup of tea for the tall skinny woman claiming to be related to her husband. "Remind me again, how you're related to Pacha."

"Why I'm his third cousin's brither's wife's step-niece's great aunt," the tall skinny woman replied she gestured with the hand holding her cup. "Twice removed."  _She's lying through her teeth,_ Chicha thought as she looked at her guest with a deadpan expression.  _But who is she really and what does she want with my husband?_ "Isn't that right, Kronk?" the woman called over to her companion, who was busy playing jump-rope with Chaka and Tipo.  _The woman's clearly an enigma,_ Chicha thought as she started speculationg mentally.  _But her partner clearly wouldn't hurt a fly. At least I don't have to worry about the kids being in danger._

"You know," Chicha said as her guest started with exasperation at her partner's antics. "I am so sorry you had to travel all this way. But as I said to you before, you may recall, Pacha is not here. I'll be sure and tell him you came by."

"Oh, would you please?" the woman asked. "That would be just great." As her guest spoke, she "accidentally" knocked her tea cup off the table. "Oops," she said with a fake nervous chuckle. "Clumsy me."

"No, no," Chicha said as she put up a hand to stop the woman from attempting to clean it up. "Allow me." She could tell that her guest was trying to create an opportunity to search the house with her partner, but Chicha knew that her kids would instinctively follow the two out of curiosity and find out what they were really up to. So Chicha arduously strained to crouch down and pick up the cup while out of the corner of her eye she saw the old woman dart out of the room. A minute later, her guest cartwheeled back into the room just as she finished picking up the cup.

"So," she began, "while we're waiting for Pacca…"

"Pacha," she corrected.

"Why yes," the impossibly ancient woman continued, gesturing with her hands. "Perhaps we could have a tour of your lovely home?"

"You know why don't you come back when Pacha gets home?" Chicha asked, eager to get these people out of her house as soon as possible. "I'm sure he'd love to show you the…" she trailed off as she spotted Pacha through the half-open front door, anxiously gesturing toward the kitchen window with his thumb.  _So he knows who these people are then,_ Chicha realized as she made up an excuse about leaving something in the oven and turned her back on her houseguest, leaving the other woman to communicate with her associate. When she met her husband at the back door, he explained that the Emperor had been transformed into a llama by his adviser in an botched assassination attempt, and ended up in the back of Pacha's cart.

"So we have to get back to the palace, find the lab, and change him back," her husband explained before a llama suddenly stuck its head through the window.

"Hi there," it spoke before Chicha promptly smacked it in the head with a frying pan.

"Um," Pacha said nervously, "that was him."

"Whoops," she commented as Kuzco collapsed to the ground. After Pacha explained that they were also being accompanied by a group of dignitaries from another kingdom who had travelled to the area to forge a trade agreement with the imperial administration, she lead him toward the back door.

"Go," she said. "I'll stall them long enough for the four of you to get a head start.

"You have a lovely wife," the emperor commented as he dizzily recovered from being rendered unconscious. "They're both very pretty." With that, Pacha dragged the llama away before Yzma and Kronk realized that the group was ever there. Riku and Mickey met them at the edge of the front yard and together the foursome fled the village.

"Was it a good idea to leave your family with those two?" Kuzco asked as the quartet ran down the hill, out of the village, and into the jungle.

"Don't worry," the man replied. "They can handle themselves." His statement was confirmed by Yzma's frantic shouting a few minutes later. By then, they had a good enough head start that each time they were attacked by Heartless and Nobodies, the monsters were destroyed fast enough that the four heroes didn't lose their lead. They raced through jungles and over hills with Yzma and Kronk in hot pursuit. When the road ended in a steep cliff, Riku and Mickey created a ramp made of ice that allowed them to quickly slide down to the other side of the canyon. When they saw Yzma and Kronk quickly approaching the higher cliff, Riku cast a Dark Firaga spell to melt the ice slide. The group started to run faster when wings unfolded from the sides of Yzma's palanquin, allowing her and Kronk to glide through the air. But just before they reached the other side, a raincloud appeared out of nowhere, and the duo were struck by lightning before falling to the bottom of the canyon.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they survive that," Mickey said as the four continued their rush toward the palace. Everyone agreed. Yzma and Kronk may be down for the moment, but they were far from out. Eventually, they finally reached the palace.

"Okay," the human-turned-llama said as he walked back into the room with an alligator's jaws closed around his tail. "Why does she even have that lever?" He kicked the alligator off, and it promptly ran away with what sounded like a whimper. Riku couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it. Kuzco walked back over to the wall panel where the levers were located, and Pacha pulled the other lever. The space they were standing on quickly rotated, depositing the four into a small blue primitive roller coaster car.  _Really?_ Mickey thought as the car quickly accelerated down the stone tracks.  _This is just overkill._  The four of them were flipped out of the car when it reached the end of the tracks, and were confused to find themselves wearing ill-fitting lab coats and goggles as they landed on the ground. They all shrugged as they quickly removed the excess clothing before they started to search the lab.

"Let's see," Pacha mumbled as they opened the potion cabinet looking for the one that would turn Kuzco back into a human. Mickey started reading the labels aloud as the quartet's eyes moved from shelf to shelf.

"Lions…" he read. "Tigers… bears…."

"Oh my," a woman's voice commented from behind. The four heroes turned around in shock as a tall, skinny woman stepped out of the shadows.

"Looking for this?" Yzma asked as she held up a single vial of human-transformation potion in her hands.

"I don't believe it," Kuzco gasped. "How did you get back here before us?" Yzma was about to say something when she stopped, considering what her predecessor said.

"How did we get back here, Kronk?" she asked as she turned to her assistant, who was still wearing the charred remains of the palanquin.

"You got me," the muscular man replied as he pulled down a map from out of nowhere showing the two factions' routes. "By all accounts it doesn't make sense."

"Oh well," Yzma replied, speaking for everyone in acknowledging that there were more important things going on than figuring out the mechanics of how she and Kronk got to the lab first. "Back to business. So you two must be some of those Keyblade Wielders that Maleficent told me about so much about," she countined as she turned her attention to Riku and Mickey. The two Keyblade Masters immediately tensed, preparing for a fight.

"You work with Maleficent?" Riku asked incredulously. He and Mickey had been expecting the green-skinned fairy to at least have spies active in this world but they were still surprised to actually encounter an apparent member of her cabal.

"But of course," Yzma replied as she flourished the potion in her hand. "I provide her with potions, and in return she provides the manpower for me to support my claim to the throne."

"But why?" Mickey asked as the heroes and villains stood facing each other. "Why bother taking over a kingdom in the first place if working with Maleficent gives you a whole universe to conquer. Why limit yourself?"

"Because that ungrateful little worm," she snapped while pointing directly at Kuzco, "fired me for the heinous crime of trying to actually get administrative work done while he spends his entire day partying and having his every whim catered to by a legion of servants. I was cast aside like a worthless piece of trash for daring to pick up his slack."

"Okay," Kuzco said. "I admit it. Maybe I wasn't as nice as I should have been. But, Yzma, do you really want to kill me?"

"Just think of it as you're being let go," the treacherous advisor answered. "That your life's going in a different direction. That your body's part of a permanent outplacement."

"Hey," Kronk cluelessly interrupted. "That's kind of like what he said to you when you got fired."

"I know," the potion brewing villainess retorted caustically. "It's called a cruel irony. Like my dependence on you." Despite the severity of the situation, Riku and Mickey couldn't help but chuckle.

"I can't believe this is happening!" Kuzco wailed.

"Then I bet you weren't expecting this," the impossibly old woman said as she pulled up her dress. Everyone else in the room screamed and shielded their eyes, expecting to be traumatized. "Aha!" Yzma exclaimed as she revealed a knife strapped to her thigh.

"Oh," Kuzco said as everyone else sighed with relief. "Okay."

"Finish them off," she commanded as she tossed the knife to Kronk. Riku and Mickey prepared for battle, but instead of attacking, Kronk looked conflicted, as if he was beginning to have second thoughts about working for Yzma.  _Maybe he can be redeemed, then,_ Riku thought as he cast a glance at Mickey. The two had fought together for so long now that each could interpret what the other was thinking based on nothing more than eye movements and facial expressions. Turning their attention back to the situation, Riku and Mickey were surprised to find the bumbling henchman apparently talking to himself. Again, the two off-worlders couldn't help but chuckle at the absurd scene as Yzma turned toward them and gestured toward Kronk, indicating that she was just as baffled by this as they were. The four could only shake their heads and shrug.

"Kronk!" Yzma snapped at her henchman, interrupting the apparently one-sided conversation. "Why did I think you could do this? This one simple thing. It's like I'm talking to a monkey. A really big, stupid monkey named Kronk." The good guys couldn't help but wince at the hurt look on Kronk's face. From what Kuzco said, he seemed like such a nice guy despite his service to Yzma that they couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "And you know what else?" Yzma continued. "I never liked your spinach puffs! Never!" Riku and Mickey pitied Kronk as the man started to cry. This was clearly a low blow for him. Then as he stopped crying, he turned his head as if listening to someone before directing his gaze toward the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"That'll work," he said as he used the knife to cut the ropes holding up the chandelier, sending it crashing to the ground. However, thanks to her inhumanly skinny figure, Yzma passed through the bars unharmed, instead of being crushed. "Strange," he added as everyone stared at the scene. "That usually works."

"And so does this!" Yzma retorted as she pulled one of the beakers of potion, opening up a trapdoor beneath her former henchman.

"Ah," Kronk said calmly, as if having a trapdoor opened beneath you was the most natural thing in the world. "Should've seen that coming." With that, the man screamed as he fell through the open door. As Kronk fell, the battle began. At first, it was simply the four heroes against Yzma for the potion that would turn Kuzco human. But when Yzma knocked over the potion cabinet, identical pink bottles rolled everywhere.

"Oops," she remarked sarcastically. "Clumsy me. Better hurry. I'm expecting company." With that, she pulled a string hanging from the ceiling, opening a set of doors and allowing a platoon of Hamsterviel's red-furred shock troopers to come storming into the lab. As Pacha gathered up the remaining potions, Mickey and Riku flipped the table into the crowd of Leroys. This caused half of the group to be transformed into various animals. After excusing one of the troops who'd been transformed into a female cow, she ordered the remaining red soldiers after the fleeing quartet.

While Pacha and Kuzco continued to experiment with different vials, Riku and Mickey were forced to stay back and hold the line. The animal henchman continued after the peasant and the emperor, while the two Keyblade Masters remained behind to keep the Leroy at bay. Within a few minutes, the red monsters were dispatched, only for a familiar green figure to emerge from the shadows before the duo could catch up with the other two.

"Maleficent," Riku practically spat in disgust as the dark fairy appeared before them in a burst of green fire. "I should have known you'd show your face here eventually."

"But of course," she replied in her stoic and oily way. "One can only avoid getting their hands dirty for so long." Without wasting time on banter or threats, the sorceress began hurling fireballs at the two Keyblade Masters. The two heroes dodged her green flames, waiting for the opportunity to retaliate. Eventually, they were able to land a few combos before she could parry their blows. The battle went back and forth like this for several minutes. Sensing another opening, Riku initiated his Dark Aura technique, but before the first strike could land, Maleficent reacted with surprising agility to deliver a swift kick to the head, sending the young man sailing off the pathway into the draining canals below.

"RIKU!" Mickey shouted as he dove off the bridge after his friend. The mouse barely managed to cast an Aeroga spell in time to prevent them both from being smashed against the concrete floor. As he dragged the young man out of the canals to avoid being drowned when they were refilled, Maleficent teleported herself from the bridge above to stand before him. He glared at her defiantly, putting himself between her and Riku.

"Make no mistake, Mouse," the fairy warned, "the only reason I haven't killed you yet is because at present my allies and I do not stand a chance against Xehanort's minions, but you do. Once he has been eliminated, you will all die." With that threat, she disappeared in another burst of green fire. Even though, she was gone, Mickey stayed by Riku's side until he woke up again, resolving to check him for a concussion in the Gummi Ship's med bay. Once the duo had recovered, they made their way down to the openings used to drain the canals. Lowering themselves to the ground with parkour and a few Aero spells, the two Keyblade Masters emerged from the bowels of the palace to find Pacha, a young, black-haired man who could only be Kuzco, and – surprisingly – Kronk, being lowered down from the walls with an impossibly tall ladder.

Once everyone had gone back inside, the five discussed matters over lunch. Riku and Mickey chuckled when they learned that Yzma had inadvertently turned herself into a kitten by accidentally stepping on one of the vials, but their expression darkened when they learned that she had fallen through a Dark Corridor. Clearly Maleficent intended to keep the potion maker in her service. Afterwards, Mickey and Kuzco discussed the logistics of adding the young man's kingdom to the ever growing Daybreak Coalition. Eventually, it was decided that Kronk would be the ambassador for the empire as a means of atoning for his work with Yzma. After they finished their meal, everyone said their goodbyes. And Mickey, Riku, and Kronk set off for Radiant Garden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of the Emperor's New Groove world is a mythology gag to the movie's original pitch as a lion-king style musical epic called Kingdom of the Sun before production trouble caused it to be retooled into The Emperor's New Groove. I thought it would be fun to have a bit of a nod to that.


	30. Radiant Garden

#### San Fransokyo – Akuma Island

#### July 13, 2015

"NO! NO! NO!" Yzma shouted as she stormed around her new laboratory in San Fransokyo. After being rescued from her perch on the trap door Kronk had emerged from by Corridor of Darkness to this island, Dr. Hamsterviel had given her an extra Human potion she'd kept lying around in case of situations like this where she'd accidentally transformed herself. Currently, she was sitting in her lab fuming over her loss of the throne. She wasn't particularly upset about being dethroned in and of itself. She'd never really taken much pleasure in running the empire, and she'd only aspired to take the throne as part of her revenge on Kuzco. But being transformed into a kitten and failing because of Kronk had infuriated her.

"At least be grateful that I rescued you before they could throw you in prison, or worse," Maleficent intoned calmly as she strode into the room, her long black robes trailing behind her. "They could have forced you to remain a small, fluffy kitten, and found any number of humiliating ways to punish you without resorting to torture. They could have forced you to join that ridiculous scout troop your henchman was a member of."

"Oh all right," Yzma complained as she finally calmed down. "I'm just still furious at how humiliating my defeat was. At least you were only defeated after a long and arduous battle. I was bested by contrived coincidence and plain old dumb luck." The two women went on to discuss Yzma's potion making and the different applications it would have to their empire. The ideas the potion brewer and the dark fairy were able to brainstorm were spectacular. Turning agents into fleas and other insects to send into enemy territory for covert espionage. Choosing battle-ready jungle forms for animal-only worlds such as the Pride Lands. Turning Leroys into sharks to attack Atlantica. Or transforming prisoners of war into work animals such as cattle, oxen, donkeys, and horses to use for slave labor on less developed worlds. The possibilities are infinite, and Yzma was just getting started.

* * *

#### Radiant Garden – Marketplace

#### July 14, 2015

After removing Ven's heart, Aqua and Mickey had insisted that Sora take a short vacation from the conflict with Xehanort until he had fully recovered. Mickey had contacted Disney Castle's Gummi Garage before he and Riku had left for their next destination and had a new gummi ship brought to Yen Sid's tower so that Aqua, Ven, and Lea could travel on their own while Sora was out healing from the strain of what he'd gone through in Castle Oblivion. When they arrived in Radiant Garden, Leon had informed them of the status of the alliance, and that the Restoration Committee members had voted for Ansem to keep his position as the ruler of the world.  _"He's had the most experience with leadership,"_ everyone had agreed.  _"And for all of his mistakes he still wants to do what he can to make up for letting his apprentices run wild."_ This meant that Kairi was once again next in line for the Radiant Garden throne.

"What are you going to do?" Sora asked as he, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy sat and ate lunch at a small café in the city's shopping district. He had initially been totally fine with the reveal that Kairi was royalty when she'd told him and the others of her restored memories of Radiant Garden, but now that he was faced with the very real possibility that once the crisis with Xehanort was over she would have to move back to Radiant Garden, he was worried that he would only be able to see her when he got the chance to visit, and that he'd never get the opportunity to finally work up the courage to tell her how he felt.

"I don't know," she replied sadly as she ate her meal. "I know my uncle being king again mean's I'm next in line when he either dies or decides to give up the throne, but I don't know if I'm ready for that. I haven't had the chance to explore the worlds yet like you and Riku have, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life cooped up here either." Sora put his hand on her shoulder as a gesture of support, to show that he would be there for her no matter what she decided.

"Well," Goofy began, "King Mickey manages to balance his duties as a king with his role as a Keyblade Wielder just fine. I'm sure he'd be happy to help you figure something out."

"Yeah," she responded. "I guess you're right. But I'm still nervous about it all."

"Don't worry," Sora added. "We'll be there for you no matter what happens." Donald and Goofy exchanged knowing glances. They knew that when Sora said "we" he really just referring to himself, since despite everything he'd been through he was still afraid of actually saying how he felt about Kairi out loud. After that, the conversation turned toward the topic of the revelations in the Land of Departure. Kairi and Donald were a bit uncomfortable about the whole reincarnation idea. Sora and Goofy on the other hand, weren't as bothered by it.

"It's like it said back in the Land of Departure," Sora said. "Who we were in past lives doesn't matter. Who we are now does."

"But there's one thing that doesn't make sense," Goofy commented after thinking over the issue. "If everyone's reincarnated, then why is the Underworld in Olympus filled with the spirits of the dead if their hearts just go into new bodies?" This managed to get Kairi out of her moping, as the four of them quickly began debating and brainstorming ways to explain how such a thing was possible in spite of what they had learned in Eraqus' study.

"My uncle wrote in his reports that a complete person has three parts, right?" Kairi began as the answer hit her like a tidal wave. "Heart, body, and soul. Braig's note said that there were no new hearts, but it never said anything about souls. What if the soul is the spirit or ghost that leaves the body when someone dies, and their reincarnation has a different one that's unique to them? That would explain how you can have the spirits of the dead in the Underworld even though their hearts are reincarnated in new bodies." Everyone nodded their heads at that, and Kairi and Donald were considerably cheered up by that deduction. The conversation was interrupted when Riku and Mickey walked in.

"Hey guys," the duo greeted as they walked over to their table and sat down. After the group grilled the two on what they'd been up to, the now expanded group went over the discoveries in the Land of Departure, and their theory about each person's sould being unique despite their heart being continually reincarnated. Riku was initially skeptical of the revelation that he was the reincarnation of one of the Foretellers, but he was staggered by it when Kairi showed him the photo found in Eraqus' study. After discussing that bombshell for a while, the conversation turned towards the new additions to the Coalition. Riku reported on the induction of the Empire of the Sun, and Mickey informed the group that after the two of them left Radiant Garden, they would be heading to the Land of Dragons to see if they could get some support against Xehanort and Maleficent.

After that, the conversation turned toward the topic of the former founding members of the Organization apparently getting off scot free despite everything they'd done. Sora completely understood that they'd been as much victims of Xehanort's machinations as anyone else, but thought that they should still be held accountable for the things they'd done. Riku pointed out that Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo were were trying to atone for it through their service to Radiant Garden. Kairi added that from what she'd seen, the four founders hated themselves for what they did, and would not feel that they had been punished enough for their actions until long after everyone else had already forgiven them.

Deciding that he should probably talk to the former Organization members while they were in town, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy headed off to the castle in the hopes of finding them. Riku and Mickey would have preferred that Kairi be sent back to Yen Sid's tower, but she insisted on accompanying Sora until he had fully recovered. "Besides," she'd argued, "I haven't had the chance to travel around like you guys have." Riku and Mickey acquiesced a little too quickly, but Sora and Kairi never noticed. The two Keyblade Masters had been reluctant to agree at first, until Donald and Goofy had whispered an idea they had in their ears.

* * *

#### Disney Town – Dungeons

#### July 14, 2015

"I ain't telling you punks anything," Pete replied defiantly as he was interrogated for the fifth time since his capture in Port Royal. Even though he knew that Maleficent had left him out to dry, he refused to betray her secrets, knowing that if he did, she would hunt him down and kill him. Which was why he was still encased in handcuffs designed to hold him and dampen what little magical abilities he had, spending his days in a cold cell in the dungeons of Disney Castle. He glared angrily at the interrogator.

"Tell us what we want to know, and we'll see about reducing your sentence," his current interrogator," Goofy's son, Max, was trying to play good cop, and doing a semi-decent job in Pete's opinion. The twenty four year old was a rising star in the ranks of the Royal Guard, and local gossip pegged him as the most likely candidate to take his father's place as captain when he eventually retired. Pete definitely planned to enjoy prodding the kid to get a reaction out of him.

"Like you care," the rotund former henchman scoffed. "I'm just another troublemaker to you runts."

"Yes, I do care," the young man replied. "You may be scum Pete, but PJ is my best friend, and despite everything you've done, he doesn't deserve to lose his father." This actually managed to get a reaction out of the large villain.

"And how's my boy doing these days?" he asked, sounding almost pleading. He'd been divorced from his wife for a few years before being banished thirteen years ago, and he'd gotten custody of his son, Pete Junior – PJ for short. Despite his banishment, he would occasionally sneak back into Disney Town ever once in a while when his work for Maleficent put him in the world's vicinity, but he'd never had the courage to come out of hiding and talk to his son, fearing what Maleficent would do to the boy if she knew he existed.

"Ask him yourself," Max replied bitterly. To Pete's surprise, the young Goof turned around and left the interrogation room, only for his place to be taken by Pete Junior. Pete was amazed at how much his son had grown in the last few years.

"I'm glad to see you're okay, son," he said nervously, desperately hoping for the chance to mend fences but nervous about PJ's reaction.

"Like you care," the young cat retorted. The ironic echo of his earlier comments was not lost on Pete. But now was not the time to dwell on irony. Right now, Pete could only sit and listen with a broken heart as his son vented thirteen years of frustration and resentment. "For the last thirteen years, I've been alone. And don't give me any garbage about being banished. You almost attacked the queen! For  _ice cream_! What were you thinking!? My whole life, I was convinced that for all your ambition and manipulative nature, you'd never try to physically hurt someone to get what you wanted, but you proved me wrong. When I found out what had happened, Minnie told me that she was going to give you a day to throw all your tantrums and then offer you a chance at redemption, but by the time she went to let you out, you were already gone. After that I was worried sick about you. For eleven years, I had no idea if you were alive or dead. But then the rumors started. I kept hearing people around town saying how they heard that you'd gotten involved with Maleficent, and I didn't want to believe it. But when I found out about you holding Queen Minnie hostage, I couldn't deny it anymore. You've always been a villain, prioritizing your greed and ambition over your family. The only thing that's changed is now you're honest about it." Pete just sat there in stunned silence, tears building up inside at every word out of his son's mouth knowing that he deserved all of it.

"You're right," he admitted as he hung his head in shame. "I'm a terrible father. I kept wanting more. More money, more power, more control. But in trying to get all of that, I pushed away the one thing that should have meant more than any of it: my family. That is my greatest regret. When Maleficent let me out, she made me promise to do whatever she asked. By the time I realized what I was getting into, it was too late. When I tried to back out, she threatened to kill me if I ever disobeyed her. So I did what I could to be as useless as possible. I played the part of the incompetent sidekick. Too stupid to be trusted with critical information but too valuable to be killed. I would come by and watch all your games and parties whenever I could, but it broke my heart knowing that if Maleficent ever saw me talking to you, she'd threaten you to keep me in line, and I didn't want you to have to deal with that. You don't have to forgive me, but I'm sorry I could never be the father you deserved." PJ's justified anger softened a bit at his dad's apparently heartfelt confession. While his dad had never been emotionally supportive when he was a kid, the young man always liked to look for the best in people. His father had always been very rough and abrasive, so seeing this rare moment of vulnerability from his old man was, to him, a sign that his dad could be redeemed.

"There's no chance of you being acquitted," PJ replied sadly, "but they'll give you a lighter sentence if you tell them what you know." With that, he left the room. Pete sighed.  _I can never make up for what I've done,_ he thought sadly.  _But maybe I can at least make amends with my family. Peg... Pistol... PJ... I'm so sorry._ A moment later, the guards returned to the interrogation room and took him silently back to his cell. There were no more loud, defiant protests echoing through the hallways of the dungeon. Now, there was only the occasional sob of regret.

* * *

#### Radiant Garden – Borough

#### July 14, 2015

"How do you feel about those guys?" Jiminy asked as from his usual spot hiding in Sora's hood as Goofy, Sora, Kairi, and Donald walked through the streets of Radiant Garden in search of the former Organization memebers. While not as active as before, the cricket continued to dutifully chronicle the heroes' adventures as he had done since they met. Anyway, from what Riku and Kairi had said, the quartet of founders would most likely be found in the castle library, so the heroes were making their way there now.

"I don't know," Sora responded as they walked out of the marketplace. "I know they were manipulated by Xehanort as much as everyone else, but they still did a lot of terrible things. Xaldin tormenting the Beast. Vexen helping to wipe my memories. I can forgive trying to kill us in fights, but that stuff, I'm not sure if I can forgive." The mention of Xaldin caused Kairi to recall her memories of Ansem's apprentices from before she was sent to Destiny Islands, and brought to mind Jiminy's account of what had happened in Beast's Castle. She brought up the idea that part of why, according to Roxas' memories, Xaldin had been so obsessed with the goings of of Beat's Castle because the devotion the enchanted servants showed to their master reminded him too much of the blind loyalty the Organization members had towards Xehanort both before and after becoming Nobodies. He may have noticed the parallels and it might have struck a nerve with him.

After that the conversation turned toward Sora passing his Mark of Mastery. Sora was relieved to finally be a Keyblade Master. The other though, argued that after everything he'd accomplished he was already a master several times over, and all the exam did was give him formal recognition, even if the title didn't really mean anything. The group finished that conversation as they walked inside the castle. By the time the heroes found the apprentices sitting around the library, Sora and the others had made their decision. When the heroes walked into the castle library, the three apprentices (Ienzo was off with Cassim doing reconnaissance in Olympus) practically jumped out of their seats to come over and talk.

"I know the feeling isn't mutual," Dilan said, "but it's good to see you, Sora. We wanted to thank you. It's because of you destroying our Nobodies that we were able to be restored. And, we wanted to apologize for everything that we've done as part of the Organization." Before the group could continue, the young Keyblade Master held up his hand to stop them.

"I just wanted to see you guys face to face," he began. "And I wanted to tell you… that we forgive you guys." Dilan, Even, and Aeleus were clearly shocked at this pronouncement. Even though Riku had forgiven them, they were clearly expecting Sora to be furious that they weren't being punished for what they'd done. "It doesn't excuse what you did," he continued. "But you guys were manipulated by Xehanort as much as anyone else." The four former Nobodies were clearly touched by this, and since they weren't the hugging type, they settled for giving the young Keyblade Master friendly handshakes. After that, the conversation turned towards life in Radiant Garden and the heroes' next destination. That decision was made when Ienzo mentioned that the 100 Acre Wood storybook had been returned to the castle library. Sora immediately decided that it was time for him to introduce Kairi to his friends in the 100 Acre Wood, since even before she'd left Radiant Garden she'd never been inside the book like her cousin Ienzo had. Since according to Ienzo it appeared to be winter in the Hundred Acre Wood, Sora and Kairi quickly changed into some cold-weather clothing before heading into the book to explore the world inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I came up with the whole each reincarnation has a different soul idea because after I incorporated the reincarnation thing, I realized the whole conundrum that created with the Underworld in Olypmus Coliseum, so I came up with the conversation in this chapter as a way to explain it.
> 
> The idea of Ienzo having gone to the 100 Acre Wood came from TV Tropes. I was reading the WMG page when I found an entry that speculated that, based on Marlin's comments in KH2 that it was once one of Radiant Garden's greatest treasures, Ansem may have once owned the book (which makes sense considering the size of the library in KH1), knew it had a world inside it, and either used it to help Ienzo cope with the death of his parents before Xehanort banished him, or Ansem could have been there in the Christopher Robin role when he was a kid himself. I like both ideas, so I'm giving nods to that.


	31. 100 Acre Wood

#### Cable Town – Floating Islands

#### July 14, 2015

"This is the perfect location for our new headquarters," Hades remarked as they surveyed the abandoned marble buildings on the floating islands of Cable Town. Behind him, a squad of Leroys was unloading computers and equipment from Hook's ship as it floated in the air in between the three islands.  _With a stable base of operations,_ he thought to himself as he speculated possible plans for the placement of equipment and the function of rooms,  _we can finally start making progress._

"I agree," Maleficent added. "Isolated, easy to defend, ideally positioned to withstand any siege from above or below. It's the ideal place to stay after several days aboard the Jolly Roger." With that, she resumed barking out instructions to the Leroys regarding where to put everything.  _Now we can finally make some real progress,_ she mused as she laid out a parchment on which to draw a map of their new base of operations.  _With a stable base we can stop going on the run. And since this world is not part of the so-called heroes' silly alliance, we won't be found unless they come looking for us._ But the voice of her avian familiar snapped her out of her thoughts.

"M' Lady," Diablo reported, "My mission to Radiant Garden was successful. The second copy of the Book was hidden in the castle library, just as you suspected." With a bow, he presented her with a large, leather book identical to Jiminy's Journal in almost every way.

"And was your presence noticed?" she asked. The last thing they needed was to put this "Daybreak Coalition" on their tail so soon after they'd acquired their new headquarters.

"No, My lady," Diablo replied with a bow. "I did a sweep of the library in insect form to confirm that nobody was there before I began my search. Whenever someone came in, I would turn into a flea until they had left."

"Good," the green-skinned witch answered. "This only confirms our theory that the Books of Prophecy were scattered throughout the known worlds to keep them from enemy hands. Aside from the cricket's journal, the existence of the second copy in Hollow Bastion and the possibility of another in the Land of Departure indicates that the books were hidden on worlds that are either fully in the realm of light, such as Radiant Garden, or in the realm between like the Mysterious Tower, since the journal originally came from Yen Sid's tower."

"And this world is in the realm between too, isn't it?" Hades asked rhetorically after a moment of contemplation. "If they have a big, important library here like they do in Radiant Garden and the Land of Departure, who's to say that we haven't possibly stumbled onto the hiding place of the third volume?"

"I like the way you think," Maleficent replied with a smirk as she leaned over and kissed her lover. "We'll send out a search party once we've settled in to our new base."

* * *

#### 100 Acre Wood – Tigger's Howse

#### July 14, 2015

"I think this must be Tigger's house," Sora remarked as he and Kairi made their way through the snowy evening in the Hundred Acre Wood toward a house that was perched in a tree. Sora jumped up to the front porch and helped Kairi up after him before knocking on the door. The two were greeted by a large orange stuffed tiger with a light tan belly and black stripes.

"Oh, hello there, Sora!" Tigger said, a slightly disappointed look on his face. "Come in, come in. So, who's your friend?"

"I'm Kairi," Kairi introduced herself as she and Sora walked inside to find the one-room home covered with balloons, streamers, and a banner that read " _Welcome Tiggers_ ".

"Hey Tigger," Sora began. "What's going on with the banners and everything?"

"Oh that," Tigger replied. "I got a letter from my family, and they're all coming to see me tonight. I just finished getting ready for the big family reunitin' party."

"That sounds fantastic," Kairi commented as she and Sora helped him with the final preparations. But a few hours later, it was dark out and nobody had shown up yet.

"I wonder where they could be," Tigger mumbled as he paced back and forth around his house. "What if they got the wrong directions? What if they strayed off the beaten path? What if they're out there, hopelessly lost? Clutched in the cruel grasps of winter?"

"Hold on, Tiggers!" he shouted as he headed for the door with Sora and Kairi following close behind. "I'm coming to get ya!"

"SURPRISE!" Tigger opened the door to find seven orange, stripped people standing right outside. Sora and Kairi each raised an eyebrow. They could tell that the seven figures outside were wearing costumes, but they weren't sure how to tell Tigger without crushing his expectations of his family showing up.

"Is it… Is it really you?" He asked as he stood excitedly in his doorway, facing what appeared to be his biological family for the first time. "My very own, one and only family?" Before Sora or Kairir could say anything, he let the other "Tiggers" inside. "Come in, come in, come in," he said. "There's lots of catching up we've got to do. We haven't seen each other in… We haven't seen each other!" At first, everyone just stood there, a little uncomfortable and casting nervous glances in Sora and Kairi's direction.  _What's going on?_ Sora wondered in his head. Kairi wasn't sure if she should say anything since Tigger didn't really know her like he knew Sora, so the two Keyblade Wielders just stood there.

"Gee," one of the small "Tiggers" said, breaking the uneasy silence. "It's nice to have all us Tiggers getting here together like this, huh?" As all the other voiced their agreement, Sora's eyes widened as he recognized everyone's voices.  _It's Pooh and the others wearing Tigger costumes,_ he realized.  _But why?_ Suddenly, it hit him.  _They were the ones who sent the letter, but they did it anonymously because they wanted to cheer Tigger up. When he misinterpreted the letter and thought his family was coming to visit, they didn't want him to feel disappointed when a family of Tiggers didn't show up, so they made their own Tigger costumes and came themselves._ He quickly whispered his discovery to Kairi, and they decided that they'd talk to everyone later so as not to spoil the moment for Tigger.

"Where the heck are my mannerisms?" Tigger gasped. "Refreshments for all! Coming right up!" he shouted as he quickly raced around the room passing out cups of lemonade and water to the others. Kanga and Piglet started complimenting Tigger on his house and his decorations. When Tigger asked what his family had been up to, everyone held their breath nervously when Tigger hugged Piglet so tightly he fell out of his costume. Only Roo's quick announcement that they'd been bouncing all day long that saved Piglet from being discovered. "It must run in the family," Tigger remarked as he dragged Eeyore over to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey, resulting in another tense moment when he saw the donkey tail attached to his "Tigger" relative's backside. "It looks like you've already been playing it," he commented with a chuckle as everyone behind him breathed a silent sigh of relief.

With that near-miss over with, Tigger decided that it was time to bounce, since that was what Tiggers did best of course. Everyone began to bounce as music began to play from the gramophone in the corner. Sora even started bouncing himself, and after some encouragement, Kairi joined in as well. After a few minutes of bouncing, Roo suggested bouncing something called the "Whoop-de-Dooper Loop-de-Looper Alley-Ooper Bounce," to which Tigger responded to with immense glee.

"You gotta swing your legs up high," Roo demonstrated as he took the stage. "And you twist your tail in tight, you wind up all your springs, and with your eyes fixed straight ahead, you let it all loose with a Woo Hoo Hoo Hoo!" As he let it loose, Roo took off like a rocket, ricocheting off the walls and ceiling as he bounced all over the room before crash landing in Tigger's closet. Everyone winced as an avalanche of clutter fell out of the closet. But when the dust finally settled, Roo's mask had been torn. The jig was up.

"Roo!" Tigger gasped, confused. "What are you doing impersonizing a Tigger?" He then went on to unmask all the others in the room.

"We only wanted to help, Tigger," Winnie the Pooh said gloomily as he removed his own mask.

"Now I understand," Tigger replied sadly. "It was all a big joke."

"Well," he interrupted as he retrieved the letter and what appeared to be a golden heart-shaped locket from a drawer in his dresser before marching toward the door. "That's alright. Because somewhere out there, there's a Tigger family tree, full of my real family. I've got a letter to prove it, and I'm gonna find them. So TTFE: Ta Ta For Ever!" With that, Tigger sadly slammed the door as he marched out into the cold winter night as everyone looked out the window with looks of sadness and regret on their face.

"The letter was from you guys, wasn't it?" Sora asked as they watched Tigger storm off into the woods alone. After introducing Kairi to everyone, they all nodded as Pooh explained that after a particularly crazy day in the hundred acre wood (in which Tigger's bouncing had caused all kinds of chaos for the others), Tigger began to feel lonely, and after conversations with Roo and Owl regarding his family, he'd become obsessed with his biological family being out there somewhere. When the inability to find his "Family Tree" caused Tigger to act gloomy, the group decided to send their friend an anonymous letter just to lift his spirits, only for him to interpret the letter as telling him that his family would be visiting in a matter of days. Since they didn't have the heart to tell Tigger the truth and crush his hopes, they resorted to dressing up in Tigger costumes and showing up at his doorstep for the party. A little while later, Sora and Kairi were sitting in Pooh's house talking about what they should do.

"Poor Tigger," Pooh remarked as he looked out the window at the raging snowstorm. "All alone in the cold. He must be very sad… and perhaps lost… and maybe even a bit hungry." At that, the golden-furred bear's tummy rumbled, and he looked over at his shelves to find them empty of honey. "Bother," he remarked. A minute later, someone began knocking quickly on Pooh's front door.

"Pooh, Sora," Roo gasped as the bear opened the door, slipping in while Sora and Kairi raced to push the door closed against the swirling winter wind. "You gotta help me find Tigger. It's all my fault. He never would have left if it wasn't cause of me. I didn't mean to make him feel bad. I just… I just wanted him… to be my big brother." Pooh and Sora gave the young kangaroo a comforting hug. "We gotta go find him," he continued. "We just gotta."

"What we need is... think, think, think… An expotition!"

"An expotition?" Kairi asked, confused.

"Why yes," Pooh answered as Sora whispered in her ear that everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood mispronounced expedition as expotition. "To the place where Tigger is…" the bear continued as he grabbed a scarf to wrap around his neck for warmth. "Or was… or… will be?"

"Let's get going then!" Sora declared as he and Kairi stood up from the table. "We'll go get the others."

"I believe Rabbit should lead us, then" Pooh added as the four prepared to leave. "He's the only one who ever says he knows what he's doing."

A short while later, Sora, Kairi, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Gopher, and Roo were gathered in Rabbit's kitchen.

"Absolutely not!" Rabbit said as he scribbled down notes. "I mean… uh… well… after all he, uh… it wasn't my… he… uh…he wanted to leave didn't he?"

"But Rabbit…" Pooh tried to protest before the wind blew open the tablecloth covering up Rabbit's back door.

"He could always give that extra little push when you needed it," Sora added as he and Kairi grabbed the tablecloth and held it down while Rabbit quickly reattached the pegs holding it in place. After some further coaxing from Piglet, Eeyore, Sora, and Roo, Rabbit agreed to lead the "Expotition." And so the eight set off into the blizzard, shouts of "Tigger!" echoing over the frozen landscape as they searched for their friend. After another hour or so of searching, everyone was tired, cold, and on the brink of giving up hope when a piece of paper was blown into the group and stopped when it hit Roo's face. Sora and Kairi were close enough behind Roo to be able to hear him read the paper aloud. They looked at each other as they realized that this was the letter. Their suspicion that Tigger had to be nearby was confirmed when Roo started shouting.

"TIGGER!" the young kangaroo shouted. "TIGGER! IT'S ME! ROO! DOWN HERE!" Everyone looked up to see a gigantic tree, covered in snow, with a familiar shape sitting in the upper branches. They all joined in the shouting as they raced toward the tree.

"Hey you're not tiggers," Tigger said as he hopped toward them. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Doing?" Rabbit asked incredulously. "What are we doing here? We came all this way to look for you! Now… Now forget about this "other Tiggers" nonsense and come home!" Sora's heart hurt for Tigger, realizing that Rabbit's insensitive comment about his Tigger family being nonsense hurt just as much as the disastrous events of the party a few hours ago.

"NO!" Tigger shouted, his voice echoing across the mountainside.

"Are you crazy!?" Rabbit asked. "It's not safe out here!"

"Exactakly!" Tigger shouted. "That's why you should all go home, where it is safe. But I've gotta wait here, in my family tree, for my. Real! FAMILY!" Once again the shouts echoed up the mountain, but this time, they were accompanied by a low, steady rumble. Shortly after Piglet asked Pooh if the rumbling noise was his stomach. When Pooh confirmed it wasn't, everyone looked up to see a massive wall of snow racing directly for them. Everyone panicked as they raced towards the tree. Sora and Tigger hopped everyone up the branches. First Kairi and Roo, then, Pooh and Piglet, and finally followed by Eeyore and Gopher. But Tigger was only just barely able to throw Rabbit up into the tree before the avalanche swept him away.

"TIGGER!" Roo shouted as his friend clung to a boulder as he was swept off a cliff.

"I'm going after him!" Sora shouted as he leapt off the branch, using Quick Run to practically glide across the river of ice, snow, and debris. To Sora's surprise, he was quickly overshot by Roo, who was flying through the air with the Whoop-de-Dooper Loop-de-Looper Alley-Ooper Bounce. By the time Sora caught up to him, he was already waking Tigger up. The stuffed tiger managed to regain consciousness just as the boulder they were clinging to plummeted off another cliff with the rest of the avalanche. But with quick thinking by Tigger, the three of them managed to ascend the cliff and race against the current of the avalanche thanks to the WDLLAO Bounce, or in Sora's case, a whole lot of Quick Running, Aerial Dodging, and Flow-Motion.

They quickly arrived back at the tree, and everyone clung to it for dear life for several more minutes before the river of snow finally stopped. The group gradually released their death grips on the tree when they realized that they were safe. They all began to cheer as they climbed down from their perches. Kairi and the others all congratulated Sora and Roo on the rescue.

"What a whoop-de-dooping loop-de-looping alley-ooping bounce that was!" Tigger said as he praised Roo's performance of what Sora and Kairi had been told was the ultimate bounce.

"It was, wasn't it?" Roo replied, still in awe that he'd actually succeeded at performing such a challenging technique. "I mean… I really did it, didn't I?"

"Did you?" Tigger answered. "Why that bounce was just as good as any old Tigger… family member…." Remembering why he'd come out there in the first place, he walked sadly away and just stood at the edge of the tree, staring off forlornly into the distance. He was still upset that he'd never found his family.

"Tigger…" Roo begged with tears in his eyes. "Please don't go." Tigger smiled and patted Roo on the head, but they were interrupted by Owl calling out that he'd found them. Roo bounced toward Kanga as she raced forward and gave him a hug. Tigger followed sadly behind. After Roo apologized to his mother for worrying her, everyone finally managed to say what they'd been trying to say for the last two days.

"Tigger," Kanga began, "you didn't have to go looking for your family."

"But I got a letter," Tigger replied as he patted his fur. "And it said that they were… it was right…." His mood saddened again as he realized he no longer had it "And… I must have lost it in the avalanchee. I can't even remember the words." Sora felt a deep ache in his chest as Tigger began to cry, the stuffed tiger's inability to remember what was in the letter bringing to mind the Keyblade Master's recent experience in Castle Oblivion.

"Dear Tigger," Owl began as the group started to recite the letter from memory. "Just a note to say…"

"Dress warmly," Kanga continued, picking up where Owl left off.

"Eat well," Pooh added.

"Stay safe and sound," Piglet piped up.

"Keep smiling," Eeyore grinned a little as he said that.

"We're always there for you," Roo said proudly.

"Signed, your family," they all finished at once.

"You mean…" Tigger began. "You fellas… are my family?"

"I'm afraid we have nothing better to offer," Winnie the Pooh answered sadly.

"Well of course not, Pooh boy!" Tigger replied with a chuckle as he walked over and hugged the bear. "'Cause there's nothin' better than the best. I should've seen it all along." With that, the group chatted about their adventure as they happily made their way back to Tigger's house. Once there, Tigger threw another party for the entire family. Kairi was a little reluctant to join in the celebrations at first, but Tigger insisted saying that "Sora's part of the family, and any friend of his is part of the family, too." Tigger began passing out gifts to everyone, and when Roo was given the heart-shaped locket that Tigger, had been carrying, Sora came up with the idea for a group photo to put inside it. After the party, Sora and Kairi said their goodbyes before they left the book to return to Radiant Garden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love the Winnie the Pooh sequels, including The Tigger Movie. Since they had Skull cave from Pooh's Grand Adventure in KH2, I figured it would make sense that there would be stuff from The Tigger Movie in KH3, since it was the next pooh film. I added in Gopher because he never got enough screen time in the movies.


	32. Arendelle

#### Arendelle – Castle Chapel

#### July 14, 2015

 _This should be interesting,_ Lea thought to himself as he, Aqua, Ventus, and a handful of delegates from the Coalition sat in the pews of the chapel in Arendelle's castle as the choir began chanting overhead for their queen's coronation. The young man took note of the soon-to-be queen's nervousness as she removed her teal blue gloves.  _She's afraid of her powers,_ he realized, having sensed her magical power earlier.  _And those gloves must be how she avoids freezing, people when she touches them. I'll have to talk to her after her coronation and offer her some pointers on controlling her powers,_ he thought as he notices how quickly she put away the ceremonial objects and put her gloves back on when the coronation was over, clearly eager to avoid being seen accidentally freezing things in public.  _Besides,_ he added mentally,  _she's pretty cute._

As the new queen left the room, his expression darkened as he recalled the reason for their visit to this world. Ienzo and Cassim's reconnaissance report for this world indicated that the young woman had been born with extraordinarily strong ice magic, and had apparently shut herself off from her sister, the princess Anna, after a traumatic accident with her powers that resulted in her sister losing all memory of her sister's magical ability. Because of her tremendous power, Ienzo feared that she would likely be a target of either Xehanort or Maleficent. The presence of Isa and Xehanort (Ansem's apprentice, not the old guy) seated in the back of the chapel confirmed the presence of the Organization, while the garishly dressed "noblewoman," Cruella de Vil seated across the aisle from the Keyblade Wielders was clearly an agent of Maleficent. That made it all the more urgent that neither faction get their hands on Queen Elsa.

The dignitaries of the Coalition had arranged to meet with Elsa after the coronation, so before the after party began, Aladdin and Maurice met with Elsa to explain the dangers posed by Xehanort and Maleficent, and discuss the possibility of Arendelle joining the Coalition. Elsa agreed to the idea wholeheartedly, and Arendelle was quickly added to the charter of the Daybreak Coalition. Thanks to this, Cruella's attempts to sway the queen towards joining Maleficent's cabal were quickly shut down, and when Saix attempted to dance with Elsa, she made up a lie about not dancing before volunteering her sister to dance with the comically serious blue-haired man instead. After talking to Anna for a while, Elsa retreated towards the balcony for a bit of quiet time while Anna walked off with a well-dressed man she'd run into in town before the coronation. Elsa sighed as she reflected on how alone she felt because of her powers.

"Not good with crowds, I take it?" a voice called out as she stood near one of the balconies. She turned to find a man with blood red hair wearing strange clothing leaning against one of the walls.

"Not good with people in general, I guess," she admitted with a sigh. "What about you?"

"I haven't had been to a party in over ten years," the man replied. "I guess I'm not used to all of it anymore. So how come you're not good with people?"

"You'd probably never believe me…" she answered nervously.  _No one can know about my powers,_ she reminded herself.  _Don't let them see, don't it show._ Her thoughts were interrupted when a blade matching the Coalition delegates' description of a Keyblade appeared in the man's hands in a flash of light and fire.

"Now I find  _that_ hard to believe," he countered with a smirk.

"I don't really feel comfortable telling anyone when I don't even know you're name," she replied a little nervously. "How do I know you're not with Xehanort?"

"My name's Lea, your highness," the red-haired man answered. "Got it memorized? As for how you know I can be trusted, if you didn't already hear my name from the Coalition ambassadors, is one: all of Xehanort's minions dress entirely in black clothing, and two: my childhood friend was stripped of his will by that lunatic until he was nothing but an emotionless puppet."  _I shouldn't have accused him like that,_ Elsa realized, noting Lea's obvious anger at being associated with Xehanort.

"I'm sorry I accused you," she replied. "It's just… It's constantly been drilled into me since I was a little girl that I needed to hide my "gift", and that I could never let anyone else know about it."

"It's alright," Lea interjected. "Can't say I blame you for being suspicious. So, getting back on track, how come you aren't so good with people again?" Elsa was still a little nervous about displaying her powers in front of someone else, but after Lea dismissed his Keyblade and gave a quick demonstration of his fire powers inherited from his days in the Organization, she relented and fired a small blast of ice out the window onto the roof of the balcony below. Since the queen was still nervous about her power being discovered, Lea melted the ice with a quick burst of fire while he talked about the difficulty he'd had controlling his powers when he'd first gotten them (he left out the part about becoming a Nobody since he figured that was another explanation for another time). Despite her reservations, the young queen felt a sense of kinship with the fiery Keyblade Wielder. Thus, a new friendship was born as the two headed back to the ballroom so that Elsa could take her place at the party, discussing powers and control methods all the way.

* * *

"May I have this dance?" Aqua was jolted out of her reflection on recent events by a familiar voice. One she hadn't heard since she'd fallen into the Realm of Darkness. She turned around to find the face of the man who had caused so much suffering.  _The heart of the man I despise in the body of the man I love._

"Why should you, Xehanort?" Aqua almost spat at the man who had taken away the man she'd fallen in love with. She and Terra had started to feel attracted to each other after a few years of training, but they had agreed not to act on their feelings for each other because they were afraid that Master Eraqus would disapprove of their relationship, and neither wanted to go behind their mentor's back. But Eraqus telling her in his will that there was nothing wrong with them being in a relationship and should is progress far enough, then he gave them his blessing if they ever wanted to get married, had reopened old wounds. She couldn't bear to interact with the man who had stolen her could-have-been-boyfriend's body any more than was absolutely necessary. After spotting Ven dancing with a local girl out of the corner of her eye (and having brought him up to speed on everything he'd missed while he was asleep after they'd left the Land of Departure), She turned to leave the room before she caused a scene, only to be stopped by Xehanort's black-gloved hand.

"Aqua," the man's words jolted her out of her thoughts once more, but this time it wasn't Xehanort's voice that emerged from the man's mouth. It was Terra's. "We need to talk," he said.

"Terra," she gasped, "How…"

"Shh…" he whispered. "Keep your voice low. Saix and the other Organization members think I'm still being possessed by Xehanort, and I can't blow my cover or else they'll do it to me again."

"Alright," she whispered as a tear of joy started flowing down her face. "I'm just… I'm so glad you're okay. How were you able to break free of Xehanort's control?"  _Calm down,_ she mentally reminded herself as she resisted the urge to kiss him right then and there.  _Save the universe first, confess my feelings for Terra later._

"Braig," he replied with a growl as the two began to dance. "He told me about the Unchained. They're –"

"I know what they are," Aqua interrupted quietly. "When I woke up Ven and restored our world, I found a letter he left in the Master's study. Apparently being alive for thousands of years gives you plenty of time to work on your stealth skills. Did he tell you about the cycles?"

"What cycles?" Terra asked in a hushed tone as they danced around the room.

"Apparently the Keyblade War is part of the universe's natural ten-thousand year cycle of death and rebirth. There's another Keyblade War every ten millennia, and apparently we've still got two thousand years before those ten millennia are up." Seeing Terra's shocked face, she continued. "And there's more. Remember the stories about the Foretellers that the master told us? Apparently people are continually reincarnated with Kingdom Hearts acting like a giant washing machine for hearts, and in past lives,  _we were the Foretellers_." Terra looked shocked by this, and after a few minutes of silence as they danced, he responded.

"I'll interrogate Braig about that later," he said softly, clearly intending to get the information out of the one-eyed man harshly. "In the meantime, I need you to take care of something for me. I'm back in control of my body, but my armor is still in the Keyblade Graveyard. Braig and I tried to pick it up together on the pretense of looking for an alleged remnant of Vanitas, but Xehanort sent two others instead. Xehanort doesn't know that I'm in control of my body again, but if we can get him to think my armor is running around on its own, then it'll throw him off his game."

Aqua agreed to swing by the Graveyard after they were done in Arendelle as the song began to near its end. As the music began to reach its climax, the conversation quickly turned to what Xehanort wanted with Arendelle, since he already had four of the Princesses of Heart. After correcting her and informing her that Xehanort only had three and that Maleficent was the one who took Snow White, Terra informed her that Xehanort was sending his vessels and incarnations out to scout the worlds for individuals who could serve as back-ups in the event that one of the vessels was killed before Xehanort was ready to forge the X – Blade. He was barely able to tell Aqua who their target for possession by the old man was before the dance ended and he had to melt back into the crowd before Isa could spot him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Elsa was wandering around the palace when she heard her sister calling for her.

"Elsa!" Anna called out as she weaved through the crowd dragging the well-dressed man from earlier behind her. She introduced the man as Prince Hans of the Summer Isles, and together, the two of them awkwardly asked Elsa for her blessing of their marriage.

"Marriage?" Elsa asked incredulously. "I'm sorry… I'm confused."

"Well we haven't worked out all the details ourselves," Anna replied as she began rambling over what to serve at the reception. "Wait, would we live here?" She asked her fiancé.

"Here?" Elsa was still surprised and confused with the suddenness of her sister's engagement. But Anna and Hans weren't paying attention, having moved on to discussing inviting all twelve of his older brothers to stay for the wedding.

"Wait," the young queen interrupted. "Slow down. No one's brothers are staying here, no one is getting married."

"Wait, What?" Anna was as incredulous as her brothers were."

"May I talk to you, please?" Elsa asked her sister. "Alone?"

"No," Anna replied, taking Hans' arm. "Whatever you have to say, you can say to both of us."

"Fine," Elsa said with a heavy sigh. "You can't marry a man you just met."

"You can if it's true love," Anna retorted.

"Anna, what do you know about true love?" the queen asked coldly.

"More than you," the younger princess fired back. "All you know is how to shut people out."  _Ouch,_ Lea thought as he watched the scene unfold.  _Low blow,_ _there, Anna._

"You asked for my blessing, but my answer is no," Elsa replied sadly with a hurt look on her face. "Now… excuse me." After Hans tried to speak, she shut him down and told him that he should go.

"This party is over," she declared. "Close the gates." While the castle servants moved to carry out their queen's orders, Anna reached out and tried to grab her sister's hand, pulling her glove off in the process.

"Anna, give me my glove," she said.

"Elsa please," her younger sister pleaded. "I can't live like this anymore." Elsa looked upset for a moment before her stoic mask was put back in place.

"Then leave," she replied. Anna looked crushed at this pronouncement, and even a few of the party guests who overheard the conversation looked stunned.

"What did I ever do to you?" Anna asked.

"Enough, Anna," Elsa replied as she tried to leave the room.

"No," Anna retorted, sounding more and more upset with every word. "Why? Why do you shut me out? Why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?"

"I said ENOUGH!" Elsa shouted as a gesture with her arm accidentally caused ice spikes to sprout up from the floor. Everyone could only stare in shock as the cryokinetic queen bolted from the room. Anna, Hans, the Keyblade Wielders, and the Organization members followed her and emerged into the courtyard to find Elsa accidentally freezing the water from a fountain in a panicked attempt to escape the celebrating crowds.

"Please," she begged when Isa ordered Terra to stop her. "Just stay away from me. Stay away…" As she spoke, she inadvertently shot out another blast of ice towards the crowd at the door, causing nervous murmurs as the crowd backed away in fear. Clutching her remaining glove, Queen Elsa fled the castle.

"Elsa!" Anna called out as she, Hans, Lea, Aqua, and Ventus followed her sister through one of the castle's side passages leading towards the shore. They arrived in time to see the young queen running across the rapidly freezing harbor.

"Elsa, stop!" Anna shouted. When the princess tried to follow her sister, Hands dove to catcher her as she slipped on the ice. "No," she whispered as her fiancé helped her to her feet.

"Lea, go after her," Aqua ordered as the queen reached the other side of the bay. "Make sure she doesn't hurt herself."

"On it," the pyrokinetic redhead replied as he raced off across the ice, which was now rapidly spreading until the entire ocean surrounding the palace was frozen solid.

"The fjord…" Hans whispered in shock as snow began to fall over the now frozen kingdom.  _This is not good_ Aqua thought as she looked at Ven and gestured for him to follow her inside to discuss things out of earshot of Hans and Anna.  _Hopefully Lea can coach her a bit on controlling her powers once he catches up to her. In the meantime though, potentially endless winter aside, Elsa's not the one I'm worried about._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically, most of the visiting dignitaries from Frozen have been replaced with a handful of representatives from the alliance, and Isa takes the place of the Duke of Weselton.


	33. Frozen Heart

#### Arendelle – The North Mountain

#### July 15, 2015

"You look great," Lea remarked as he clapped when Elsa returned from the balcony of her newly made ice castle. "I could have done without the singing but this whole place is fantastic." Elsa blushed when she heard him.

"You were following me?" she asked, surprised he was there but glad to have someone to talk to.

"Someone had to make sure one of Xehanort or Maleficent's goons didn't make a move when you were off on your own," he replied with his usual smirk.

"Well, thank you," Elsa replied after another moment of blushing.

"Hey, what are friends for?" He answered rhetorically. "But you know you can't isolate yourself from everyone forever."

"I know," Elsa responded sadly as she conjured a bench made of ice with a wave of her hand. "I know you said the key to controlling my powers is to embrace them, but I guess old habits die hard right? I'm not hiding from this whole mess, I just… I guess I needed a little room to breathe. Now that I don't have to worry about hurting anyone now, I can let loose and not have to worry about bottling everything up."

"Hey, no worries," Lea said. "I understand completely. Taking a break to figure it all out usually helps."

"Well…" Elsa replied as she wrapped her arms around herself, which Lea had deduced was something she unconsciously did when stressed "What now?" She hadn't really given much thought as to what she'd do once she'd gotten away from the party. Fortunately, Lea had just the idea.

"I say," he began, "that we practice helping you control your powers. I know, this whole castle shows what you can do when you put your mind to it, but since you told me that you're afraid of accidentally hurting other people, so we can use this whole space to figure out a way for you to thaw stuff instead of only freezing things. Pushing people out will just make it harder for you to deal with things." Elsa's slightly melancholy expression brightened at the suggestion.

"That sounds amazing," she answered. "But…"

"No buts, your highness," Lea interrupted. "This is something you've got to do if you want to be able to spend time with other people. The whole "don't feel" approach only works for so long."

"Alright, alright," she acquiesced with a chuckle. "We've got plenty of time on our hands, so we might as well get started."

"But first," Lea replied with a laugh. "We need to go hunt for breakfast. I'm starving."

* * *

"Thank you," Anna said as Ventus used a fire spell to warm her up and thaw her frozen dress after she fell downhill into a river in their search for Elsa. They'd ridden through the snow-covered landscape all night, but they'd been walking since sunrise ever since snow falling from a tree had spooked their horses, causing them to throw the two from the saddles and run back to the castle. Aqua had stayed behind to protect the Coalition delegates and keep an eye on the Organization, so the two of them had been walking through the snow all day. The reason Anna had fallen into the river in the first place was because they were heading toward a cottage they'd seen nearby in the hopes of finding either directions or a clue to Elsa's whereabouts.

"No problem," the young Keyblade Wielder replied as they walked towards the wooden building. Anna had been present at the meeting with the Coalition delegates, and she was fascinated by the Keyblade. She was also initially a little upset that her sister had never told her about her powers, but Ven had pointed out that Elsa had likely been terrified of both hurting her by accident and being seen as a monster because of what she could do. After a few more minutes of walking, the duo reached the building. Anna knocked the snow off the sign to discover that they'd arrived at Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna.

"Big Summer Blowout!" A large man, apparently Oaken called out from the checkout counter. "Half off swimming suits, clogs, and a sun balm of my own invention." When Anna asked about winter boots, Oaken directed the two of them to the store's winter department, which consisted of a pickaxe, a coil of rope, a pair of snowshoes, some winter boots, and a single set of clothes. When Ven asked if Elsa had come through here, Oaken's response was that they were the only ones crazy enough to be out in this weather. As soon as he said this, another man came in, covered with snow. Ventus immediately tensed, preparing for a fight as Anna stood between the newcomer and the counter.

Fortunately, it turned out that he was simply looking for carrots, which were on a shelf under the counter. Anna and Ven were all ears when the snow-covered man answered Oaken's rhetorical speculation of where the snowstorm was coming from with "The North Mountain." Before either of them could ask about the statement, the man got into an argument with the muscular cashier over the cost of carrots and winter gear. The princess's attempt to start a conversation about the North Mountain was interrupted when the tall man called Oaken a crook, causing him to be thrown back out into the snow.

After buying the carrots along with the entirety of Oaken's winter stock, Anna managed to convince the blonde man, Kristoff, to take her and Ven up the north mountain. After a few minutes of debating over when to leave, the three of them were riding Kristoff's sleigh through the snow, headed for the North Mountain and, hopefully, Elsa.

"Hang on," Kristoff instructed as his reindeer, Sven, quickly pulled the sled along the mountain slopes. "We like to go fast."

"I love fast," Anna replied as she put her feet up on the front of the slad. Ven, who was stuck sitting in the back, clung to the backboard of the sled for dear life.

"Whoa, whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa" Kristoff said as he made Anna take her feet off the front, "get your feet down. This is fresh lacquer. Seriously, were you raised in a barn?" Ven chuckled as their guide promptly spat on the area where the princess's feet had been before wiping it clean with his gloved hands.  _It feels good to be out helping people_ , the young Key bearer thought to himself as Anna began explaining to Kristoff what had caused Elsa to go all "ice crazy" as he put it.  _So much has changed while I was asleep, but some things never change. Master Eraqus may be gone, but we can still save Terra. I know we will._ He was jolted out of his reflection when Kristoff asked about Anna's engagement to Hans for the second time.

"Hang on" the ice salesman interrupted. "You mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met that day?"

"I asked the same thing myself," Ventus called out from the back of the sled.

"Yes," Anna answered bluntly. "Pay attention." She then went on to talk about Elsa's gloves, but the conversation quickly turned back to her rushed engagement. When Anna insisted that Hans wasn't a stranger, he proceeded to grill her on her fiancé. What's his favorite food? Eye color? Foot size? Have you had a meal with him yet? What if you don't like the way he eats? Or the way he picks his nose?

"It doesn't matter if it's true love," Anna said as she ended the questioning.

"Doesn't sound like true love," Kristoff replied flatly. In the back, Ven couldn't help but agree. Even if she and Hans were apparently meant to be, it was still hasty to just rush to getting married before they've really gotten to know each other.

"Oh are you some sort of love expert?" the princess retorted.

"No," the man sheepishly admitted, "but I have friends who are."

"You have friends who are love experts?" Ven commented with amusement. "I don't buy it." The mood quickly darkened however, when Kristoff instructed the two to keep quiet, placing a hand over Anna's mouth when she tried to protest. The three of them quietly looked around the dark, anxiously wondering what Kristoff was worried about. Suddenly, Ventus saw their gleaming eyes peering out of the darkness behind them.  _Wolves._

"Sven, go," Kristoff instructed his reindeer. Ven quickly summoned his Keyblade and began firing spells at the pursuing wolf pack as the sled took off through the woods. As they raced through the darkness, Anna and Kristoff continued to bicker and banter as they fought off wolves hoping to attack from the side where Ven's combat spells couldn't hit them while he was focused on protecting the rear.  _And that's why I don't want to get on Anna's bad side,_ Ven thought as Kristoff was pulled off the sled by a pair of wolves and hanging on by a single rope before Anna lit a rolled up blanket on fire with the mountain man's torch and hurled it at the wolves tugging on the man's clothing. Eventually, all three humans and the reindeer were forced to jump as the sled flew off a cliff and down into the canyon below. Kristoff mourned the destruction of his sled as it caught fire on the canyon floor. Apparently, he'd just finished paying for it.

Despite his better judgement, Kristoff stood by his decision to guide the princess and the key bearer up the north mountain. Early the next morning, the trio was surprised to encounter, of all things, a walking, talking snowman. His name was Olaf, and was apparently Anna and Elsa's imaginary friend as a child, until the queen apparently made him with her powers.  _Wow,_ Ven thought,  _Queen Elsa must be really powerful to be able to bring something made of snow and ice to life._ The young Keyblade wielder struggled not to laugh at the irony of a snowman that wanted to experience what summer was like, even more so when Olaf broke out into song about it.

Eventually, and with a lot of discussion about whether or not Elsa wanted to be left alone on the way (Anna insisted that nobody wants to be alone), they finally reached a magnificent castle made entirely from ice. Kristoff started to cry as they all stood in awe of the spectacular structure. Despite Kristoff and Ven's objections, Anna insisted on talking to her sister alone, figuring that it was time for the two of them to have a long heart-to-heart conversation about everything. Ven chuckled when Olaf took Anna's instruction to "give us a minute" literally and started counting.

* * *

#### Arendelle - The North Mountain

#### July 16, 2015

Meanwhile inside, Anna and Elsa started to talk as Anna stood on the bottom of the stairs leading to the upper floors while her older sister stood on the landing above her.

"No, it's okay," Elsa said when Anna tried to apologize for what happened at the party. "You don't have to apologize. But you should probably go. Please."

"But I just got here," Anna replied.

"You belong down in Arendelle," Elsa replied.

"So do you," Anna added.

"Maybe," Elsa answered. "But I can't go back until I can learn how to control myself without hurting anyone."

"Actually," Anna began, "about that…" But before Anna could explain about the endless winter Elsa's powers had inadvertently caused, Olaf loudly finished counting and barged into the castle.

"Hi," the snowman shouted. "I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs."

"Olaf?" Elsa was surprised to see her childhood imaginary friend standing right in front of her.

"You build me," he said. "Remember that?"

"And you're alive?" Despite her powers, Elsa still had a hard time believing she had brought her imaginary friend from years ago to life.

"I think so," Olaf replied, calm but a little confused.

"He's just like the one we built as kids," Anna added as she knelt down next to the snowman.

"Yeah," Elsa agreed.

"Elsa," Anna began, "we were so close. We can be like that again." Unbeknownst to the younger princess, her words had caused Elsa to flash back to the incident that caused her to shut her family out in the first place. She'd told Lea during their last 2 days of practicing with her powers that part of why she bottled it up was because she had almost killed Anna with an accidental blast of ice to the head as a kid. Despite the man's assurances that once she could control her powers she wouldn't have to worry about that anymore, she didn't want to risk hurting Anna again when she still hadn't figured out how to thaw the ice and snow she created.

"No," she said fearfully, "we can't. Goodbye Anna,"

"Elsa, wait!" Anna called out as her sister turned to leave.

"I'm just trying to protect you," Elsa replied sadly as she began walking away.

"You don't have to protect me. I'm not afraid," Anna replied as she began to sing about how the two sisters could fix things together. Unfortunately, being told that she had caused an eternal winter in her kingdom was not the best way to improve Elsa's attitude, and since Lea was currently having a snack in the basement, where she'd installed living quarters for her new castle after she'd created it, no one could calm the storm that was building around her.

 ** _"_** ** _Anna, please, you'll only make this worse!"_** Elsa said as she began singing to the same tune as her sister.

 ** _"_** ** _Don't panic,"_** Anna tried to reassure her sister.

 ** _"_** ** _There's so much fear,"_** Elsa exclaimed as her anxiety grew. She and Lea had already figured out that negative emotions made her power more chaotic and unpredictable, and the knowledge that she had cursed her people to an endless winter did nothing to calm her down.

 ** _"_** ** _We'll make the sunshine grow,"_** Anna offered.

 ** _"_** ** _You're not safe here,"_** Elsa declared.

 ** _"_** ** _We can face this thing together,"_** Anna tried to reassure her sister.

 ** _"_** ** _No…"_** Elsa nervously.

 ** _"_** ** _We can change this thing together,"_** Anna added.

 ** _"_** ** _I…"_** Elsa added fearfully.

 ** _"_** ** _And everything will be alri – "_** Anna began.

 ** _"_** ** _I CAN'T!"_** Elsa shouted as she reflexively fired a blast of ice magic in all directions, inadvertently striking her sister in the heart and generating her greatest fears.

"ANNA!" Kristoff and Ven shouted as they and Olaf raced into the room while the princess fell to her knees.

"I'm okay," she replied as the duo helped her up. "I'm fine," she repeated as she glared at her sister.

"Who are they?" Elsa asked as the two newcomers helped her sister up. The Keyblade in the younger one's hand answered the question for one of them. As for the other man… "It doesn't matter," she said, "You have to go."

"No," Anna said as the ice walls began to crack and thicken. "I know we can figure this out together."

"How?" Elsa asked sarcastically. "What power do you have to stop this winter? To stop me?"

"Anna," the older man began, "I think we should go."

"No," the princess protested. "I'm not leaving without you, Elsa."

"Yes, you are," the older sister responded as she created a massive, lumbering snow golem with a wave of her hands. The gigantic beast then proceeded to throw the four interlopers out of the castle. Unfortunately, Anna made the impulsive decision to provoke it, leading to a lengthy chase through the woods in which Ventus and Olaf had to battle the behemoth while Anna and Kristoff made their escape.

* * *

"I know, I know," Elsa said exasperatedly as Lea walked into the room, having heard the singing from the basement and having seen the snow golem, which he promptly dubbed Marshmallow, throwing the visitors out the front door. "I overreacted. I just… I may be able to control when my power turns on, but until I can figure out how to turn it off, to stop this endless winter, I just… I don't trust myself." The young queen placed her head in her hands as she started crying over how she'd acted towards her sister.

"I get it," Lea replied. "I know how you feel. The first time I got my powers, I almost burned my best friend's face. I locked myself in my room for a week before I was finally able to figure out how to go about my day without randomly setting things on fire."

"How did you do it?" Elsa asked as the ice walls stopped thickening.  _Good,_ he realized.  _She's calming down a bit._   _Talking will help take her mind off things._

"I realized that if negative emotions like anger or frustration made my powers flare up, then positive stuff would logically have the reverse effect," he answered.

"So… what?" she replied with a chuckle. "All I need to do to unfreeze everything is click my heels together and think happy thoughts?"

"The heel clicking's a little too much but things like happiness and love will probably help," he answered with a chuckle and his trademark smirk. "So think of a happy memory. Something between you and your sister from before the accident." Unfortunately, the attempt at getting Elsa to focus on happy memories was cut short when the magical security system they'd set up (which displayed the castle perimeter in real time with mini ice figurines to represent attackers or intruders) informed them of a large group approaching the ice palace, accompanied by a large roar of pain from Marshmallow.

"We'll have to worry about this later," Elsa said as she raced downstairs to ensure that the front doors were closed, while Lea ran out onto the upstairs balcony to launch fireballs at the attackers from above.


	34. Marshmallow Attack

#### Arendelle – Palace

#### July 17, 2015

 _This is not good,_ Aqua thought to herself as she made her way through the corridors of the castle. Princess Anna had returned to the castle shortly after Hans' "search party" had, with her hair turning white and her skin growing deathly cold. Ven filled her in on what had happened while they were gone, and what they'd learned from the trolls. Aqua knew that Anna kissing Hans wouldn't work, since Terra and informed her of the man's deal with Xehanort. But fortunately, Terra, having been part of the group Hans lead to capture Elsa, had informed her upon his return that Elsa and Lea were being held in the dungeons. Moving swiftly through the palace, she followed the directions given by the old servant, Kai (who'd been happy to help once she'd explained what was going on), until she arrived at the dungeons. Ven and that talking snowman, Olaf, would keep an eye on Anna and rescue her when things inevitably went south with Hans. In the meantime, she needed to bust Elsa and Lea out of prison. Using a Sleep spell to subdue the guards, she moved quickly down the corridor until she arrived at the cells containing the Key bearer and the queen. With a glow from Master's Defender, she swept into each room and unlocked their restraints.

"What are you doing?" Elsa asked incredulously as she and Lea got up and stretched after sitting in the cramped cells for so long. "Has Anna come back yet?"

"She has," Aqua replied as the trio made their way past the unconscious guards out of the dungeon. "But apparently you accidentally blasted her in the heart with your magic, and she's freezing."

"WHAT!?" the queen shrieked. Immediately the stone around them began to grow a thick layer of frost.

"Elsa, listen to me," Lea said as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Calm down. Freaking out won't change anything. We can fix this."

"How?" she replied bluntly as tears began flowing down her face. "My sister is going to die and it's all my fault."

"She's not going to die," Aqua interjected. "Her friend took her to some trolls who live at the base of the mountains. They told her the only way to thaw a frozen heart is an act of true love."

"That won't help," Elsa retorted. "Anna thinks her true love is Hans, but she barely knows him."

"Wait a minute," Lea said as he comprehended the solution to the snowy queen's problem. "Elsa, true love doesn't have to be romantic love, you know." Understanding dawned on Elsa's face as the three of them raced through the castle halls in search of Anna. As they walked, Elsa reached out with her powers to quell the raging blizzard outside. If the battle against Hans and the Organization spilled out onto the fjord, they needed to be able to see where they were going. A few minutes later, the group retraced Aqua's steps to the parlor Anna had come in from to find Ven and Olaf helping Anna move over to the fire.

"Great work, Roxas," Lea congratulated as the trio arrived at the parlor.

"It's Ventus," the younger Keyblade wielder corrected. The older man kept getting the two mixed up since he'd joined the group at the Mysterious Tower.

"Right," the redhead grumbled sheepishly. The continued mixing of names had become a bit of a sore spot between the two. Something not helped by the fact that Roxas and Ven were physically identical.

"Anna!" Elsa cried as she raced into the room, helped her sister up, and gave her a hug. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Elsa," Anna replied as she finally began to warm up. "You didn't mean to do it."

Tears of bittersweet joy flowed down the young queen's cheeks as she finally realized the secret to controlling her powers.  _I should have seen it sooner,_ she thought to herself as she embraced her sister.  _But now isn't the time for dwelling on the past. We need to stop Hans._ With a sigh of relief, Elsa explained the situation to Anna as the group of six made their way through the castle. Despite Elsa's insistence that Anna stay in the parlor where she was safe, the younger princess insisted on accompanying the group before obtaining a sword from one of the nearby suits of armor. Anna called out for a servant and asked if they knew where prince Hans was. After being appraised of the situation, the palace staff informed the queen that Hans had announced that Anna had allegedly died shortly after the couple had said their wedding vows, and sentenced Queen Elsa to death. The infuriated sisters, snowman, and Keyblade Wielders caught up with Hans and the two Organization members in a room with a balcony overlooking the palace courtyard.

"So," Hans began. "You've escaped. But you're too late. The people already believe one of you is dead and the other a murderer."

"Not for long," Anna retorted as she swung her sword, striking the first blow of the battle. Aqua and Lea dueled Isa while Elsa and Ven went after Terra. Aqua was glad that she'd told everyone about Terra before they'd caught up with the Organization. Otherwise, Ven would have been going all out against him, thinking that Xehanort was still in control. Now though, Elsa and Ven were doing a good job making the fight look good enough that Terra's cover would still be in place. The battle quickly turned in the heroes' favor, as Anna backed Hans out onto the balcony before kicking him off the edge into the courtyard. The people assembled below gasped in shock as they looked up to see their princess alive and well. The villagers tried to swarm Hans and capture him, but the continued swinging of his sword kept them at bay.

Anna quickly jumped down from the balcony and was caught by the people below, surfing the crowd until she was close enough to the treacherous prince to jump to the ground and start swinging. The duel began again in earnest, with Anna forcing Hans toward the passage Elsa had used to flee the castle only a few days ago. Behind, her Isa, Elsa, and Lea leaped down into the courtyard as well, followed shortly afterwards by Terra, Aqua, and Ven (who no doubt used the extra time to talk), with Olaf waddling after them as all three duels moved through the outer corridors toward the frozen fjord. Eventually, the battle finally reached its way across the ocean.

Now that they were away from the castle and away from any civilians, Elsa was free to finally stretch her magical muscles. Hans, being the least skilled of their three opponents, was quickly rendered unconscious when the queen of Arendelle conjured a large chunk of ice and threw it at the man's head. With him out of the way, she quickly conjured a blade of ice just in time to parry Isa's claymore before sending another blast of ice in his direction. While Lea and the two sisters were dueling Isa, Anna saw Kristoff racing towards her out of the corner of her eye. Gesturing to her friend to make sure her sister and Lea understood, the three of them lured and baited the blue-haired man so that he was facing away from Kristoff when Sven plowed the Organization member off his feet. With Isa knocked out, the battle stopped instantly.

"I'm glad that's over," Terra said as he breathed a sigh of relief before running over and giving Ventus and Aqua a big hug. "Now we have a few minutes to talk before Isa wakes up." After the reunion, the group brought Kristoff up to speed on what had happened before moving on to discuss Xehanort's plans. Elsa and Anna were furious to learn of Hans' deal with the old man. Even more so when Terra told them that the prince's older brothers had made a deal with the madman as well. "They knew about Hans' ambition to acquire a kingdom of his own," he explained. "And they wanted to take over Arendelle as well. Xehanort agreed to give them control of the kingdom if they sent Hans as their ambassador for Queen Elsa's coronation. Hans would do the heavy lifting and carry out his coup, and after that, Isa and I are supposed to drag him back to the World That Never Was, where he'll be kept frozen in stasis until the old man decides he needs another vessel."

After that explanation, Elsa resolved to declare war against the Southern Isles as soon as the mess of the last few days was sorted out. A few minutes later, Terra announced that he had to leave, and that in order to preserve his cover he had to drag Hans and Isa back to the World That Never Was with him. So the young man said his goodbyes, but before he could go, Aqua came over and kissed him, long, loudly, and passionately.

"I've been waiting to do that for years," she said as they finally came up for air. Unfortunately, Isa's groaning as he regained consciousness forced Terra to bid a hasty retreat with his two charges into a dark corridor. But even after he was gone, Aqua still had a love-struck smile on her face. After walking back to solid ground, Elsa was finally able to focus as she gathered all of the snow and ice in the kingdom overhead into one large cloud before causing it all to burst apart and thaw. After creating a mini-snowstorm for Olaf so that the snowman wouldn't melt, she and the others headed back into the castle to discuss everything that had happened. While the people of Arendelle resumed the post-coronation festivities, the Keyblade Wielders and Coalition delegates set off once more, although not without Lea trying and failing to flirt with Elsa first.

* * *

#### The World That Never Was – Braig's Room

#### July 17, 2015

"Why didn't you tell me about the whole reincarnation thing?' Terra demanded as he cornered the one-eyed sniper in the man's private chambers. He'd returned to the Castle That Never Was just as Isa and Hans woke up. Fortunately, nobody suspected a thing, and Terra had the "privilege" of dragging the fallen prince kicking and screaming to the basement of the Castle That Never Was, where a room had been prepared with stasis pods.

"Because," Braig replied confidently, "If you were possessed all over again, I couldn't risk old baldie getting his hands on that kind of information. Can you imagine how much more twisted his plans would get if he knew?"

"Alright," Terra acquiesced. He then told Braig how Aqua had agreed to collect his armor for him, before inquiring about how successful the duo sent to the Keyblade Graveyard had with locating the alleged remnant of Vanitas.

"Nadda," the sniper answered, causing Terra to breathe a sigh of relief. "Although unfortunately, even though they can't find the remnant, they were able to figure out a way to potentially bring back the original." Terra's face paled as he began visualizing ways Xehanort could possibly resurrect Vanitas and they all ended with Ven's death. He couldn't allow that. Since nothing could be done about that until they had more intel, the two double-agents tabled the Vanitas discussion and moved on to the recent acquisition of Hans. Terra used this conversation to bring up the question that had been bugging him since he'd stuffed Hans into a pod.

"Hans is our first alternate vessel," he began. "But there was one other pod active in the room. When I looked inside all I could see make out was this misshapen face with red skin. What's up with that guy?"

"Oh, Schmidt?" the one-eyed man replied. "That guy's been sitting there for about seven decades I think. Old baldie won't say anything else about him, other than that he was some dude who tried to conquer his world only to be beaten by some dude in red, white, and blue. We're not going anywhere near the dude, and I don't think baldie plans on letting him out any time soon. From what I've heard, he's too much of a wild card for us to trust." Terra nodded his head in agreement as their conspiratorial meeting came to a close, before heading back to his personal quarters. When he was alone, in the privacy of his room, he allowed himself to smile the same love-struck grin Aqua was wearing in Arendelle. Aqua had told him about what Eraqus had said in his will, and he was happy that after so many years of denying how they felt about each other, they could finally be in a relationship together. He just needed to finish sabotaging the Organization first.


	35. Atlantica

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before everyone gets out the torches and pitchforks, there is a reason I included the much reviled Atlantica in this fic, and if you know your Disney songs you can probably guess what it is.

#### Cable Town – Floating Islands

#### July 16, 2015

"HOW COULD YOU BE SUCH A COWARD!?" Maleficent roared when Cruella returned from Arendelle empty handed.

"Oh calm down, greenie," Cruella retorted. "It wasn't cowardice, it was pragmatism. The puny little alliance went to great lengths to ensure she was guarded by a Keyblade Wielder at all times. I would have never been able to get close, so I figured "why waste time there if there's no chance at succeeding?"" As the fur-obsessed fashionista explained her reasoning for bailing on the Arendelle mission, the green-skinned fairy finally managed to calm down.

"Very well," she answered before grabbing Cruella's neck. "But next time such complications arise, you will summon backup instead of fleeing back to our new base. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly," Cruella replied as Maleficent released her death grip on the fashionista's throat. With that, Maleficent stormed out of the room to meet with Diablo, who had returned from scouting Cable Town for a significantly large library that could possibly hide one of the Books of Prophecy. She wasn't angry that they failed to manipulate Queen Elsa into joining their cause. One magical queen was of no great loss. What infuriated her was the ease with which Cruella de Vil abandoned the mission, however pragmatic her reasoning was. She knew the wealthy woman would not betray her new empire, but Maleficent was concerned over her apparent lack of effort. If bailing on assignments became a pattern, this problem would have to be corrected.

* * *

#### Atlantica – Undersea Palace

#### July 16, 2015

"This place is amazing," Kairi said as she, Donald, Goofy, and Sora swam through Atlantica. After everything Sora had told her about the place, this world was one she'd wanted to see more than any other. She'd always wanted to experience swimming beneath the waves without fear of drowning or having to come up for air. She marveled at the magic imbued in her clothes that transformed her two human legs into a single fish tail. It took some getting used to, but with some help from Sora (who she thought looked great with his shirt off), she was quickly adapting to moving propelling herself through the water with a tail fin instead of legs. After their initial arrival in Atlantica, Sora led the group towards the palace of King Triton in the hopes of introducing Kairi to some of their friends there. As they swam into the courtyard, they encountered someone they knew, but apparently not someone that they expected to find in Atlantica.

"Demyx!?" To say that Sora was surprised to find out that Organization XIII's number 9 was a merman in his original life would be an understatement.

"It's Myde now," the former Melodios Nocture replied. "And I just wanted to say… I'm sorry for everything I did."

"It's alright," Sora answered before explaining what Xemnas had told him in the Realm of Sleep. Needless to say, Myde too, was furious at being manipulated. Anger at Xemnas aside, the merman was happy to be whole again, and grateful for the chance to make up for the things he did in the organization. The founders may not have been the hugging type, but Myde definitely was. It was several minutes before they were able to part with Myde (although not without Donald and Goofy whispering something in his ear) and get inside the palace to speak with King Triton about the reason they'd come to Atlantica.

"It's good to see you all again," the sea king greeted warmly. "Although I must ask why you're here. I've felt the darkness stirring, and I'm concerned about the threat of another invasion of my kingdom by the Heartless. Have you come to eliminate them?"

"We have, your majesty," Sora answered with an attempted bow. "We've received reports of a giant Heartless hear, and we came to destroy it before it can hurt anyone." The Keyblade Master went on to give the (pretty much standard now) explanation of the conflict with Xehanort and Maleficent, as well as the founding of the Daybreak Coalition. Needless to say, Triton was furious that Xehanort still lived. Apparently the madman was personally responsible for the death of Triton's wife, Queen Athena. Triton gladly threw his kingdom's support into the ring for the Coalition, and recommended that they also talk to Prince Eric on the surface to get support from him as well. Unfortunately, Triton had not heard reports of any giant Heartless lurking in his kingdom. As the group turned and began swimming out of the palace, Goofy quietly snuck back and whispered something in the mer-king's ear, giving the merman an idea.

"Now that you mention it though," Triton added. "Ariel has mentioned in her messages that she's heard rumors from the surface dwellers of a giant monster hiding in a lagoon near Eric's castle. Perhaps this mysterious beast is the Heartless you're looking for." The four off-worlders agreed, and, along with Sebastian and Myde, who accompanied them at Donald and Goofy's insistence, headed up to the surface to see Ariel.

* * *

#### Atlantica – Lagoon

#### July 16, 2015

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Sora asked as he rowed the boat through the lagoon. Kairi sat across from him, keeping an eye out for the giant Heartless that was supposed to be lurking nearby. Ariel had suggested that they attack the giant Heartless on two fronts, so Sora and Kairi were rowing a boat into the lagoon to attack the Heartless from above water while Donald and Goofy returned to the water and took on their aquatic forms to strike from below.

"Yep," Myde called back. "This is definitely the place." Sora still didn't understand why they needed him along. He knew the guy would be trusted, but based on Roxas' memories of the guy's Nobody, he just wasn't sure whether Myde would actually be useful in combat. "A little further," the merman continued. "A little more, and…. Perfect!"

"So where's this giant Heartless supposed to show up?" Kairi asked as Sora stopped rowing.

"There is none," Myde answered as he climbed up onto a rock jutting out of the water.

"Well then why drag us all the way up here, then?" Sora shouted frustratedly as the boat floated in the lagoon.

"You'll see," Donald and Goofy replied as they popped their heads above water. With that, Myde pulled out his Sitar, and began to play. Before either Sora or Kairi could ask what was going on, Sebastian emerged from the water and began to sing while assorted animals emerged to provide musical accompaniment to Myde's sitar playing.

**_"_ ** **_There, you see her_ **

**_Sitting there across the way._ **

**_She don't got a lot to say_ **

**_But there's something about her._ **

**_And you don't know why_ **

**_But you're dying to try_ **

**_You wanna kiss the girl."_ **

Sora quickly brought his hands to his face to hide is embarrassment.  _What've Donald and Goofy gotten me into?_ He thought to himself nervously as he realized that there was no giant Heartless.  _I didn't want to tell Kairi like this._ Sora wanted to confess his feelings for Kairi on his own terms, but he still understood why Donald and Goofy were doing this. Ever since he'd gotten the Keyblade, his greatest fear was getting killed in battle before he got the chance to tell Kairi how he felt about her. Evidently, Donald and Goofy had decided to help make sure that didn't happen. As they floated in the lagoon, Sebastian continued to sing.

**_"_ ** **_Yes, you want her._ **

**_Look at her, you know you do._ **

**_Possible she want you too_ **

**_There is one way to ask her._ **

**_It don't take a word._ **

**_Not a single word._ **

**_Go on and kiss the girl."_ **

On the other side of the boat, Kairi was just as red in the face as Sora. She couldn't believe that Donald and Goofy had actually set this up, but in hindsight, it didn't really surprise her. Ever since her heart had been separated from her body the first time, her greatest fear was being killed before she got the chance to tell Sora how she felt about him. Clearly, this entire trip to Atlantica had been concocted with the express purpose of making sure that didn't happen. Across from her, she could see Sora was just as nervous as she was.

**_"_ ** **_Sha-la-la-la-la-la_ **

**_My, oh, my!_ **

**_Look like the boy too shy._ **

**_He ain't gonna kiss the girl."_ **

Sora was torn. On the one hand, he desperately wanted to finally tell Kairi how he really felt about her after uncomfortably avoiding the subject for the past 2 years. On the other, he was afraid of what would happen if she didn't feel the same way about him. Sure, she had drawn the Paopu fruit in the cave after he did, but he'd never been able to work up the courage to ask her whether or not she intended it to mean what he thought it meant.  _But._ Sora thought to himself as their boat continued to slowly circle the lagoon on its own,  _what have I got to lose?_ Oblivious to the mental and emotion battles of the boats occupants, the song and dance routine continued unabated.

_"_ _**Sha-la-la-la-la-la.** _

**_Ain't that sad?_ **

**_Ain't it a shame? Too bad._ **

**_He gonna – "_ **

Every living thing in the lagoon stopped instantly as Sora leaned over and gave Kairi a long, passionate kiss on the lips. As he pulled back his heart sank at the look of surprise and confusion on her face, both oblivious to the complete silence around them as Donald, Goofy, Sebastian, Myde, and everyone else watched and waited to see what would happen next.

"Sora…" she gasped as she slowly grabbed his hands.

"Kairi," he began after taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. "I love you. I have for years now. I never said anything before because I was afraid of what would happen to our friendship if you didn't feel the same way. I didn't want to risk admitting my feelings and being heartbroken because they weren't mutual. You're my light. You're what keeps me going every single day. When I'm feeling down, just thinking of you is enough to cheer me up. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I..." His lengthy declaration of love was abruptly cut short as Kairi pulled him towards her and kissed him back.

"Don't be sorry, Sora," she replied as they pulled back once more. "I've been just as scared as you have." The two embraced each other as the assembled peanut gallery broke out in cheers.

"Mix it up a bit," Sebastian whispered to the musicians as the crowd began to sing again while the two lovers continued to lock lips, only occasionally coming up for air.

**_"_ ** **_Sha-la-la-la-la-la_ **

**_Don't stop now._ **

**_You cannot hide it now._ **

**_You wanna kiss the guy._ **

**_Sha-la-la-la-la-la_ **

**_Float along._ **

**_And listen to the song._ **

**_Song say kiss the girl._ **

**_Sha-la-la-la-la-la_ **

**_Music play._ **

**_So what the music say?_ **

**_You gotta kiss the guy._ **

**_Kiss the girl."_ **

As the song ended, Sora and Kairi finally separated. The two of them held hands as they looked at each other wordlessly. Neither of them said anything, because that kiss said everything that needed to be said. As Sora rowed them back to shore, the lovebirds talked excitedly about their relationship going forward and reminisced about all the hints they'd each dropped over the years about their feelings that the other had missed. When they finally got back to shore, Sora got out of the boat first, then pulled Kairi in for a hug after he helped her up onto the dock. The moment was ruined, however, when Donald and Goofy emerged from the water and crowded around, turning a tender embrace between two lovers into a rather awkward group hug.

"So…." Goofy began teasingly. "How'd it go?"

"You guys planned all this from the beginning, didn't you?" Sora jokingly asked, already knowing what the answer was.

"Well obviously," Donald replied with a chuckle as Goofy started going on about how happy he was for the two of them. "It's not like either of you was going to make the first move on your own so we decided we might as well give you two the push you needed to finally get it out. Besides, we know both of you were scared about getting killed in a fight before you got the chance to tell each other how you feel. Goofy and I figured that if you actually sat down and told each other, you wouldn't have to worry about it anymore." They all laughed as they said their goodbyes to Ariel, Sebastian and Myde (and adding Eric's kingdom to the growing alliance of worlds as well), before returning to the Gummi Ship, their business in Atlantica concluded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The friendship between Goofy and Triton comes from another great KH fic [Fathers and Chlidren](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3608755/1/Fathers-and-Children)
> 
> Demyx's human self being from Atlantica (and his name) comes from the great fic[A Somebody's Fishtale](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5858221/1/A-Somebody-s-Fishtale)
> 
> Xehanort killing Ariel's mom is another Remember the Tides reference


	36. Monstropolis

#### The Lanes Between – King Mickey's Gummi Ship

#### July 17, 2015

 _Sora always looks extra cute when he blushes,_ Kairi thought to herself as she sat in the galley aboard the Gummi Ship. After they'd left Atlantica, they'd rendezvoused with Riku and Mickey, who, having successfully secured an alliance with the Land of Dragons, planned on taking Kairi back to the Mysterious Tower for the time being. With one final kiss, she and Sora parted ways once more, although not without applause and shouts of "It's about time" from Mickey and Riku respectively. Unfortunately, the two Masters' original plan had gone south when Ienzo called with news that one of Maleficent's spies had been tracked to a previously undiscovered world, and asked Riku and Mickey if they would make first contact. So now they were heading for the coordinates Ienzo had provided, hoping to track down the spy and bring another world into the alliance.

Her cousin had congratulated her when she told him that she and Sora had finally upgraded from just being friends to being in a relationship together, and she was sure that by the time she set foot on Radiant Garden again the news that she and Sora were dating will have spread around town like wildfire. Right now, though, she was sitting in the galley, eating a bar of Sea-Salt Ice Cream as she nervously wondered if he was okay. Just because they could each protect themselves didn't mean that they didn't worry about each other's safety.

"He'll be fine," Riku said as he walked into the kitchen, snapping Kairi out of her thoughs. "He can take care of himself. You guys will back together in no time." This made Kairi perk up a bit.

"How could you tell?" she asked with a chuckle.

"After having you two be so obvious about your feelings for each other for so many years, it's easy to tell when you two are thinking about each other," he answered. "I happy for you guys. I'm glad you two were finally able to just get up and admit how you felt about each other."

"Thanks," Kairi replied. She then went on to regale Riku with Sora's plan to take her flying in Neverland for their second date. Soon, Mickey's voice came over the intercom.

"We've reached orbit," the king called out from the cockpit. With that, Riku and Kairi got up and returned to the cockpit so that they could all beam down to the surface of this new world.

* * *

#### Monstropolis – Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor F

#### July 18, 2015

James P. Sullivan, called Sulley by his friends, sighed as he sat in Mike's work station on the Laugh Floor of Monsters Inc. It had been a good day. All laugh floors had exceeded quota, and the company's energy production had reached an all-time high. Life was good in Monstropolis. It had been fourteen years since he'd gone from the company's top scarer to the CEO of the entire company, and the world had changed for the better. His best friend, roommate, and former scare coach turned top comedian, Mike Wazowski, had gotten married to his longtime girlfriend Celia Mae. The company had transitioned from scream energy to laughter, although they still kept a stockpile of scream energy stored up for slow days. Monsters University had reconfigured its academic program to reflect the new mode of energy collection, and he and Mike would occasionally swing by their alma mater to offer advice to aspiring young scarers and comedians. Attitudes towards humans had been changing, too. With the change to laugh energy, monster kind began to stop viewing humans as deadly, and despite the fear of exposure, the city council was currently in talks to decide whether or not to eventually reveal themselves to the human world. There was still a bit of prejudice here and there, but on the whole, monsters' attitudes towards humans was steadily improving with each passing year.

But recently, mysterious things were happening. Empty laugh and scream cans were going missing in large numbers, doors were disappearing from the vault day by day, and the copy machines were being used late at night, creating copies of company records. Something was going on, and Sulley was determined to get to the bottom of this. Which was why he, along with a select few that he and Mike trusted (which so far included Ceilia, their old frat-mates Don, Squishy, Terri, Terry, and Art; Dean Hardscrabble of Monsters University, and Roz from the Monstropolis Security Agency), were determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. They were currently holding a stakeout across the entire factory. Former CEO Henry Waternoose's escape from prison a few weeks ago only added to the suspicions.

One of the more popular theory among those involved with the investigation was that Waternoose was attempting to start up a rival energy company and was stealing MI equipment to set things up. Security had tightened, but the main body of MI employees was being kept out of the loop because even if it was Waternoose, the sabotage of security cameras and equipment suggested inside help. Sulley was proud to be on a first name basis with almost all of his emplyees, having networked with half of the factory as he and Mike worked their way up the ladder, but someone on the inside was involved with this whole mystery, and until they were caught, the entire staff was under suspicion.

His musings were interrupted when three beams of green light poured down through the windows. Looking out at the windows, he saw the beams stretching all the way into the space.  _Are we being invaded by aliens?_ He thought to himself. As quickly as the light had come, it had vanished. When he looked down, his eyes nearly popped out in shock when he saw, standing where the light had touched the floor, a small, mouse-like creature, and two teenage humans.  _Okay,_ the blue-furred CEO thought as he took a few calming breaths.  _Humans have been working on advanced technology for a long time. These three were probably just part of a portal experiment gone wrong, like that thing with that team of superheroes three years ago. It's probably not a scouting mission to prepare for an invasion… I hope._

"How did you three get here?" Sulley asked nervously. If he could figure out who they were and what they wanted, he could keep the arrival of humans in their world for the first time in over a decade under wraps until the monster government could figure out what to do with them.

"We just beamed down from our ship," the mouse-like thing replied warmly. In spite of his nervousness, Sulley felt like he could trust that these three were telling the truth just as the rest of the investigation team came into the room to get ready for the stakeout. The security cameras had been going down around nine at night, so the stakeout was scheduled to start at 8:30. After explaining to the others what had happened with the green light, and the group of monsters started arguing before the three arrivals interrupted to explain themselves.

The boy, Riku, explained the history of the Keyblade War, to the shock of the assembled monsters, who knew that the monster world had broken off from the human one centuries ago, but no historian had ever figured out how. Most of the crowd was skeptical of the young man's claims, but the majority of the skeptics were silenced when all three summoned their Keyblades as a demonstration. Once the Keyblade War had been explained, the girl, Kairi, told the assembled monsters of the current threats of Xehanort and Maleficent that lead to the formation of the Daybreak Coalition, after which the mouse thing, Mickey, explained that they'd come to Monstropolis in pursuit of one of Maleficent's spies. When Sulley had explained the recent theft of equipment and the stakeout, the three off-worlders readily offered to help.

"I don't trust them," Dean Hardscrabble remarked as the stakeout team huddled up to decide whether or not to accept the help of these outsides. Of all the monsters assembled, she was the one who was the most anti-human in her attitudes. Granted, this mainly extended towards believing that humans would only seek to eradicate monster kind if their world was exposed, but the others were much more positively inclined towards humans compared to her.

"I'm not sure we can, either," Mike commented. "What if they've already found our world and this is just a trick to learn our defenses in preparation for an invasion?"

"I don't think so," Sulley replied, cutting off the hushed arguments. "If they were here to spy on us, I don't think they would have just revealed themselves like that. Besides, they need our help, and we might need theirs." With that, everyone managed to begrudgingly agree to give the humans a chance, albiet with the caveats that they wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere in the factory alone, and no one was to tell them anything about the workings or history of the monster world. "We'd love the extra help," Sulley told the newcomers as the group huddle ended. "Now let's get this stakeout started."

* * *

#### Cable Town – Floating Islands

#### July 18, 2015

"Excellent," Maleficent grinned as she examined the three copies of the Book of Prophecies that were laid out on the table in front of her. Diablo had managed to uncover it in the library on the three islands down below, advancing her goals by that much more. "Once we have all five copies of the book," she continued, "we'll finally be able to unlock the full extent of their power. With each tome we collect, the greater power at our disposal."

"The problem though," Hades commented as he placed his hands on the table, "is how to get our hands on the copy in the Land of Departure, since the little blue-haired witch decided to shield her world against incursions by the likes of us."

"I saw we send the so-called "Guardians of Light" a message," Diablo added as Maleficent looked around the table at the faces of her inner circle. Hades, Diablo, Hook, and Cruella had proven to be loyal allies and - dare she say it? – friends over the years. And despite her reluctance to open up to others, she found that the four people in this room were the only people she genuinely trusted. "We know they're seeking to protect the Princesses of Heart from Xehanort," the bird continued. "So I say that we offer them the one we have in exchange for that copy of the Book."

"Let us not be too hasty," the green-skinned sorceress responded with a raised finger. "After all, Xehanort could just as easily offer something in exchange for Snow White. No. We won't just send a message to the "Guardians." Instead, we'll have an auction."

"Are you're joking?" Cruella asked incredulously as everyone stood thunderstruck at this pronouncement.

"It's quite simple really," the dark fairy clarified with a malicious grin. "We give Xehanort and the heroes each a list of demands. Cruella has informed me that there are traitors within the Organization's ranks, so we hold a parley aboard the Jolly Roger. We know the heroes will bring the book with them, not wanting to risk the princess's safety, so we will let the heroes and the traitors destroy Xehanort, and seize the extra copy of the book in the chaos." Maleficent stood there and smiled as she let the nuances of her plan sink in.

"That's genius," Hades replied as he leaned over from his seat to her right and kissed her on the cheek.

"Why, thank you," Maleficent said with a satisfied smirk, ignoring the knowing smiles the rest of her inner circle shot at her. "I thought you might say that. We'll prepare the messages tomorrow. Until then, it's time to see how our new recruits in Monstropolis are doing."

* * *

#### Monstropolis – Monsters. Inc: Copy Room

#### July 18, 2015

"All clear in the copy room," Roz said drolly into her walkie-talkie as she and Kairi kept watch in the copy room, waiting to see if the intruders would show up. It had been two hours since the stakeout began, and there had been absolutely no sign of the thieves. Terri, Terry, and Don were stationed in the door vault; Mike and Celia stood sentry on the Laugh Floor; Sulley, Riku, and Hardscrabble were in the scream can storage room; Art, Mickey, and Squishy were waiting in the lobby. "So," the large slug monster continued as she turned to her partner. "How can you be so sure that this alliance of worlds will work?"

"I thought you didn't trust us," Kairi replied cautiously.

"I don't," Roz answered in her usual monotone voice, "but I also know that you're telling the truth about this "Keyblade War". It's the only possible explanation for your ignorance of the more recent goings on of the human world that ours is connected to. It's nothing personal, I just don't trust humans. I'm a lot more positively inclined than a few of my coworkers though, so my attitude could always be worse." Kairi nodded at this statement.

"Most worlds have been happy to join the alliance," Kairi began as they sat in the copy room, waiting for the intruders to show up. "But honestly, the fact that some people are suspicious and don't want anything to do with things like Heartless and Organization XIII isn't really much of a surprise. People tend to be defensive and suspicious of things that they don't understand by nature, no matter what species they are. I guess after a few days of unanimous support for worlds joining forces, we just got a little too used to success." For the next two hours, the two sat and waited, occasionally discussing little things ranging from relationships to juggling responsibilities (something Roz had experience in back when she was working undercover as MI's clerk while also managing her duties as head of the CDA). After a few hours of waiting, Don Carlton's voice came over the walkie-talkies

"Hey guys," he reported. "We found a sleeping bag and a supply of food hidden here in the Door Vault. Someone's been sleeping in the vault."

"But shouldn't security cameras have spotted someone sleeping in there?" Mickey asked as everyone voiced their agreement with the mouse's comments.

"That's what we thought too," Terri answered. "But then we stood on the bed and we realized that it's located inside a small blind spot between security cameras."

"Wait a minute," Mike called out, interrupting the chorus of voices. "If the cameras are only down for a few hours each night, then that means that whoever is sleeping there would have to be able to turn invisible in order to sweep past the cameras, and the only monster who can do that with a motive to steal from the company…"

"Is Randall," Sulley finished just before Squishy's voice drowned him out.

"Waternoose just entered the lobby," he whispered harshly. "I repeat, Waternoose is in the lobby."

"Boggs is in the storage room," Hardscrabble shouted as sounds of a struggle echoed over the communication system.

"We're on our way," Roz called out before she led her human partner out of the copy room and locked the door.

"We need to get to the lobby, and fast," she said as she began slithering at a relatively average pace down the hall in the direction of the factory's main lobby.

"We can get there faster if we use this," Kairi suggested as she pointed out an empty cart lying around in the hallway.

"I like the way you think," the middle aged slug replied with a mischievous grin as the girl helped her onto the cart. Within minutes the two were speeding down the hallway to join the skirmish in the lobby while Don, Mike, Celia, and the Terri/ys raced to stop Randall in the storage rooms.

"Nice to see you too, Waternoose," Roz said sarcastically as she and Kairi arrived in the company lobby to find Mickey, Art, and Squishy in the middle of a fight with former M.I. CEO, Henry J. Waternoose. The large crustacean monster was able to block the members of Roar Omega Roar by kicking out with his six pointed legs, while Mickey leapt around the room firing blasts of magic with his Keyblade. Upon her arrival, Waternoose turned to face her.

"Ah, Roz," he replied. "It's been a long time." He diverted his focus for a moment to grab Art's leg and throw him across the room at Squishy, knocking the two into a pile against the wall. "I see humans have been allowed into the monster world after all these years. Such a disgrace."

"Give it up, Waternoose," she retorted drolly, ignoring the crab monster's jab. "We know about you and Boggs stealing company property. Trying to start up your own I take it?"

"Actually," he replied as he flinched against another blast of ice magic from Mickey and Kairi's blades, "I'm here in service of another power. One far greater than the city council of our world. Maleficent's empire needs fuel to stay running, and with M.I.'s equipment, Boggs and I can provide it for her." Everyone froze at that comment.

"You're working for Maleficent?" Mickey and Kairi weren't as shocked as the other monsters were. They'd been expecting on of Maleficent's spies to be behind the missing equipment at the factory. Waternoose's confession simply confirmed their theories. Squishy and Roz were a little less suspicious of Riku, Mickey, and Kairi now that Waternoose had confessed to be in cahoots with the sorceress the three outsiders were here to stop.

"Of course," the crab-legged monster replied jovially as he attempted to stomp on Mickey, only for the strike to be parried long enough for the mouse king to land a few hits on the large monster's underbelly. "She freed me from prison and made me an offer I couldn't refuse," he continued as he skittered out of the way of Squishy's charge. "Freedom and my company in return for providing her armies with scream energies." With that, the crab monster let out a deranged cackle. Fourteen years in prison had clearly left the monster more than a little unhinged. The battle expanded when a long, purple monster, apparently Randall Boggs, streaked into the room followed by Mike, Sulley, Celia, Hardscrabble, Don, and Terri/Terry. The four against one battle quickly evolved into eight against two.

The battle ended within minutes, with Randall and Waternoose slumped unconscious against the factory's front doors. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Roz dialed the MSA to come take the duo back to prison. With the mystery solved, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they talked with the off-worlders, sharing stories about each other's worlds. Though the public mistrust of humans meant that Monstropolis wasn't ready to join the Daybreak Coalition, the humans, mouse, and monsters assembled in the lobby had managed to bond a bit through helping to get to the bottom of this problem. Until their world was ready to join the Coalition, they would be the ones working to improve monster attitudes towards humans so that one day, Monstropolis would stand with the other worlds in this alliance against Maleficent, Xehanort, and others like them. Unfortunately, their celebration was cut short by an unexpected arrival.

"A pity," a woman's voice called out from behind the group. "It would have been nice to have an entire factory all to myself." Everyone turned around to see a green-skinned woman with black horns and long black and purple robes. The assembled monsters had never seen her before, but apparently their visitors had.

"I never expected you to show up personally, Maleficent," Riku said as the trio of off-worlders glared at the woman.  _So this is the woman who the Coalition formed to stop,_ Hardscarbble thought as the Monstropolis residents examined the green-skinned fairy.  _She's certainly intimidating enough in person. She's clearly powerful if whole worlds are afraid of her._

"Even when tasks are delegated, it's best to inspect things myself," the dark fairy replied. "Besides, their knowledge is too valuable to go to waste." With that, she vanished in yet another burst of green fire while Randall and Waternoose fell through a corridor of darkness just as they were regaining consciousness.

"So that's the woman the Coalition formed to stop huh?" Mike remarked when the three villains were gone. "She's… creepy and intimidating." Riku chuckled before admitting that Mike's comment was the most accurate description of the sorceress anyone had ever given. When the flashing lights of the M.S.A. vehicles pulled up to the factory a few minutes later, Roz explained that the two thieves had managed to escape after feigning unconsciousness in order to deceive the stakeout team into lowering their guard. While the monsters were busy explaining what had happened to the authorities, the three Keyblade Wielders snuck back to the laugh floor and beamed back to their Gummi Ship to head off for the next world.

* * *

#### San Fransokyo – Akuma Island

#### July 18, 2015

"WE HAD A DEAL!" Waternoose roared as the villains arrived on the scare floor set up on the top floor of the San Fransokyo lab. "I GAVE YOU SCREAM ENERGY AND YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GIVE ME MY COMPANY BACK!"

"And you shall have it, in due time," Maleficent cooly replied. "But barring brief incursions, while Xehanort lives we cannot launch a full scale invasion of Monstropolis without bringing that madman and his Organization down on our heads. If there's one thing my experiences have taught me, it's to acknowledge when I am off my game in terms of power and influence. When the Keyblade Wielders have eradicated the Organization, we will invade Monstropolis and take back your factory. Which, given everyone's schemes and counter-schemes, will not take more than a month. You will get what you desire, I assure you."

"Alright," the unhinged ex-CEO acquiesced as he calmed down from his rage at being denied the chance to take back his company. Satisfied that the monster had been placated for now, Maleficent returned to Cable Town so she could get some rest. She was just about to join Hades in her quarters when her raven familiar interrupted her.

"M' lady," Diablo called out as he ran up behind her. "There's something on the holo-projector you need to see. There's been a development with the Organization's ranks."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I decided to include a Monsters Inc. world, I realized that rather than give Riku, Mickey, and Kairi monster forms to blend in, the option with the most storytelling potential would be to set the story for this world after the movie and examine the changes in Monsters' attitudes towards humans.
> 
> I'm keeping Monsters University canon for this story in broad strokes. Essentially, Monsters University itself is on the outskirts of Monstropolis, Fear Tech doesn't exist, etc. Everything else about that movie is more or less canon.


	37. The New World

#### Radiant Garden – Marketplace

#### July 17, 2015

"This place is beautiful," Mulan remarked as she and her husband Shang walked through the marketplace of what was, along with Disney Town and Twilight Town becoming one of the Coalition's main trading hubs. When Riku and Mickey had come asking for the emperor's aid in defending the worlds against Xehanort and Maleficent, he had dispatched Mulan and her husband to serve as his representatives in the alliance, and spared no expense. She and Shang had arrived in Radiant Garden accompanied by her friends Yao, Ling, and Chien Po, who would serve as bodyguards and military advisors to other Coalition forces, their wives, her parents, and her grandmother. Her parents and grandmother were now getting situated in the building that would soon become one of the first embassies in Radiant Garden, leaving the others to go off and explore the city.

"It's hard to believe that only a few years ago it was scorched ruins," Shang commented as they walked up a flight of stairs to the next level of the market. "These people have come a long way to be able to rebuild their home so quickly. It reminds me of when we helped rebuild that village in the mountains near the Tung shao pass." They both smiled as they remembered the village that had nearly been massacred by Shan Yu, and the resilience with which the villagers had taken to rebuilding.

"I wonder when Sora and the others will show up next," Mushu wondered aloud from his perch on Mulan's shoulder. "It'll be fun seeing those guys again." The three reminisced over their experiences with the Keyblade Master and his two companions as they walked into a restaurant for lunch. If any merchants from their home world were going to come to Radiant Garden to trade, it would be good to be able to recommend where the best places to eat were.

* * *

#### The New World – Forest

#### July 17, 2015

"You guys have been here before?" Lea asked as he, Aqua, and Ventus walked through the forest, apparently going nowhere.

"Yeah," Aqua replied as she led the trio through the woods. "Master Eraqus was good friends with the chief here. He used to bring us with him whenever he visited this world. If Xehanort or Maleficent are active here, he'll be able to help us find them."

"Alright," the red-haired man acquiesced. "As long as you know which way we're going." They continued walking for another hour, seemingly turning in random directions and only getting more and more lost. But contrary to Lea's belief, his two partners did indeed know where they were going, and they soon emerged from the dense trees to find themselves on the outskirts of a small village. Lea shifted nervously as dozens of eyes turned in his direction. He could immediately tell the people here were suspicious of him, but in contrast, Aqua and Ven were welcomed with open arms. Evidently everyone here remembered their last visit.

"Aqua, Ventus," the man Lea assumed to be the leader of the tribe greeted the group warmly. "It's good to see you both again. It's been so long. Where is Eraqus? Is he with you?"

"No," Aqua replied sadly. "He was killed thirteen years ago." Seeing their distress at their inability to save their mentor, Chief Powhatan gave the two a comforting hug. After that statement, everyone who knew Eraqus wanted to know how the great and wise warrior had died, Aqua with visual aid provided by Kekata, the tribe's shaman, told a modified version of the story to give the assembled crowd a basic understanding of what had happened. Xehanort's murder of Eraqus and possession of Terra. His plans to forge the X – Blade, and his abductions of the princesses of Heart. When Aqua explained that Terra had managed to break free of Xehanort's possession and was serving as a spy for them in the ranks of Xehanort's followers, Powhatan revealed that a group of strangers had come ashore not far from the village. Kocoum, one of the warriors of the tribe, had led a scouting party to their camp, only to be attacked. In the chaos, Kocoum had reported seeing a man with white hair standing away from the battle. Because Xehanort's Heartless also had white hair, Aqua couldn't know for sure if the man Chief Powhatan spoke of was indeed Terra, but she was hopeful that she would get another chance to see him again.

After another hour of reminiscing over the last time Eraqus and his apprentices had visited, Kocoum returned to the village followed by a man with spiky blond hair and a massive sword that was as large as Terra's Keyblade, and a woman with black clothing and long dark hair that reached down her back.

"Kocoum," Powhatan said. "I told you not to go near the strangers."

"I did not," Kockoum replied. "These two came to me, claiming they were hunting a demon nearby, and asked where the demon might be able to hide. Since I was not a match for the man's weapon alone, I brought them here so that our three guests could deal with him." Nodding his understanding, the chief instructed the crowd to part to allow the three Keybearers through. Aqua and Ven had never seen these two before, but apparently Lea knew who they were.

"Cloud, Tifa, good to see you guys again," he greeted as he walked over and shook hands with the two fellow residents of Radiant Garden.

"You know these two?" the chief asked suspiciously. Since he was preparing for war, he needed to defend his village from outsiders.

"We're old friends," Lea explained before turning to speak to Cloud again. "So you're still hunting Sephiroth, I take it?"

"Unfortunately," Tifa replied sadly. "We've been tracking him since Olympus, but now he's here somewhere, waiting for us."

"What is this "Sephiroth"?" Kocoum asked, still suspicious of more outsiders.

"He is a monster," Cloud answered. "One of the deadliest warriors in the universe. He has no morals and no purpose beyond trying to corrupt me by any means necessary. And he will kill everything in his path in order to get what he wants. The only reason he hasn't slaughtered every living thing from here to the shore yet is because he's trying to lure me into a trap." The assembled tribespeople gasped in horror as Cloud spoke of all the evil that Sephiroth had done in the last decade. Kekata conjured images in the fire that were able to give the two a lead on Sephiroth's current hunting grounds. However, Aqua refused to let them face him alone. So Lea went off with the two Restoration Committee members to find Sephiroth and put him down. After they had left, Aqua and Ven continued to talk with Chief Powhatan until he had to go talk to his daughter and warn her not to run off on the eve of war.

* * *

#### The New World – Jamestown Settlement

#### July 17, 2015

 _As if things here couldn't get any worse,_ Terra thought to himself as he sat inside the empty tent while Ludor sat outside teaching the settlers how to play poker. Even when possessed by Xehanort, the former Gambler of Fate could still be a gigantic troll when he wanted to be, especially when it came to screwing with time. Master Eraqus had taught him about Tethered worlds during his training, and it was likely Xehanort knew about the phenomenon as well, and that knowledge was passed along to his other vessels and incarnations.  _Leave it to a troll like Ludor to take advantage of that knowledge and invent Poker over 200 years early,_ he thought as he sat down in one of the chairs in the tent.

The humor of the Organization's former number 10 messing up history for fun was lost however, when the young man's thoughts returned to what he was doing on this world in the first place. Governor Ratcliffe had made a deal with Xehanort's time travelling younger self before the crew had left London, and informed the greedy man that two of his representatives would meet him in the new world. Thus, Terra and Ludor had been dispatched to bring the man back to the Castle That Never Was after their end of the bargain had been upheld. It was Young Xehanort's words that fueled Ratcliffe's convictions that there was gold here in this new land. As Master Xehanort had predicted, the man's convictions lead him to make assumptions that the "savage natives" were hiding the gold all to themselves. All that the old man needed to bring Ratcliffe in and prepare him to be a backup vessel was for the man to do something truly drastic, like start a war with the natives of this land over something extraordinarily petty.

The situation was only made worse by the fact that the One-Winged Angel was lurking in the wilderness nearby. Knowing that Cloud would be able to sense his location, Sephiroth had arrived hoping to draw his enemy out. Just looking at the demonic man caused Terra to flash back to everything Xehanort had done. Everything  _he_ had done. Guilt welled up in him as he recalled the day that he and the other apprentices had created Sephiroth. Ostensibly, it had been an attempt at extracting the darkness in a person's heart. A young teenager named Cloud Strife had been the test subject, similar to how Master Xehanort had removed the darkness in Ven's heart to create Vanitas. In reality, it was so much worse than that. Sephiroth had been the prototype for what would become the Organization's Replica Program, but absorbing the darkness of the original rather than their memories like Xion did. Thinking about Xion brought on another wave of guilt as he thought back to what Xemnas… what  _he_ had done to her. Xehanort saw her as nothing more than a tool, but like Roxas, Terra saw that poor girl as a person, rather than a puppet without an identity. And he regretted everything he had done to her.

Forcing himself to return to focusing on the matter at hand, he reflected that the situation with Sephiroth could always be worse. The only reason neither the settlers nor the native tribes had been slaughtered by that monster yet was because Xehanort had ordered him to leave them alone. It amazed Terra that while Sephiroth would refuse to accept orders from anyone without being paid for it, he would follow Xehanort's instructions for nothing except information on Cloud's whereabouts. Meanwhile, he could only stand there silently while tensions between the settlers and the natives rose, helpless to do anything to prevent conflict for fear of exposure and being possessed once more. His thoughts were interrupted when his partner walked into the tent and sat down.

"If only the whispers at the top carried to the bottom," Ludor commented as he picked up one of his many decks of cards. "Even in the new Organization the lower ranks are still kept in the dark. Wouldn't you agree, Terra?" Terra froze, uncertain of whether this was a test to determine whether or not he was in control of his body. If it was a test and he attacked now, his cover would be blown. So he settled for playing dumb for now.

"I don't know what you mean," he replied calmly. If this turned ugly, he would have to seek sanctuary with the natives. He doubted they would trust him though, considering they'd seen him with the settlers, and were already suspicious of the Englishmen.

"Oh I think you do," Ludor replied with a smirk. "Braig told me, right after he added me to our little circle of conspirators."  _Really Braig? Really?_

"Is this some kind of trick?" he kept his voice even and his tone neutral but the meaning was still there: How do I know you're telling the truth?

"Not at all," the gambler answered. "He said to tell you that the password is unchained."  _So he is telling the truth._ Terra breathed a sigh of relief that his cover was intact.  _Braig you… you…_

"He should have told me," Terra said, speaking with his own voice again as he turned to face his new co-conspirator. "Forget about compartmentalizing information in case one of us gets caught. The least he can do is tell me when he's going to bring someone else on board. No offense."

"None taken," Ludor responded. "He won't even tell me any more beyond you and his whole "Unchained" bit, and that's it. What'd he tell you?"

"Not much more than that," the young Keyblade wielder replied as he sat down at the table across from his new partner. "I found the rest out from Aqua while I was in the field." Intrigued, Ludor listened as Terra described what he had heard from Aqua regarding the Unchained and the cyclical nature of the Keyblade War. Ludor was fascinated with the information and the two former Organization members continued to bond over their mutual dislike of Braig until Terra spotted a blond man walking into the woods alone. "Where's John Smith running off to now?" He wondered aloud as he watched the expedition's captain stealthily crept out of the camp. Terra quickly relayed what he'd seen to Ludor, and the two switched jobs so that Terra could follow John and see what he was up to, while Ludor remained behind to keep an eye on Ratcliffe. In the few days since the Organization members had arrived at this camp, Terra had gotten along rather well with John when he wasn't having to hide his true allegiance from Ludor, and he didn't want the younger man to get hurt. As silent as the wind, Terra warped out of the camp through a Dark Corridor before taking off into the woods after John.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Human!Luxord's name, Ludor, comes from the Latin verb ludo, which means to play or to gamble. Thank you, TVTropes' Kingdom Hearts WMG pages for that little bit of information.
> 
> Regarding the timeline of Sephiroth killing Zack, my head-canon is that the scene in the BBS end credits with the feather in Olympus Coliseum doesn't take place until after Sephiroth is born.
> 
> Sephiroth's origin is another Remember the Tides reference.


	38. Steady as the Beating Drum

#### The New Word – Jamestown Settlement

#### July 18, 2015

"Well that could have gone better," Terra commented as he and Ludor returned to their tent after John's attempt to convince the other settlers that the natives weren't hostile ended with Ratcliffe declaring a death sentence to anyone who didn't kill any savages they saw on sight.

"Indeed it could have," his fellow conspirator remarked. "But as long as Ratfliffe is in a position to contact Xehanort if we betray him, we can only sit here and watch or else it's back to being mindless drones for us." Terra nodded his head in agreement. After finally regaining his free will for the first time in years, he was terrified of being made a slave of Xehanort again. So they could only sit and listen to the settlers arguing about whether or not the "savages" were really hiding the gold, resolving to subtly use their magic to prevent fighting if it came down to it. Terra smiled a bit when he heard a few men argue that Ratcliffe had been lying to them since they left London. He stopped smiling though, when he looked out the tent and saw John sneak outside the fort.

"John's sneaking out again," he said as he turned back to his partner.

"Probably to see that girl he made friends with," Ludor suggested as he aimlessly shuffled another deck. Terra had informed him of what he'd seen earlier that day. Apparently John Smith had befriended a girl named Pocahontas from the Indian tribe that lived nearby, and regularly snuck off to spend time with her. Terra had been sworn to secrecy on the matter, and had even run into Aqua and Ven while he was out as well. He'd gotten into an argument with his friends about doing the right thing, during which he'd broken down and admitted that he was terrified of being possessed again. After some comfort and reassurance from his friends, the three Key bearers quickly made up before Terra had to return to the camp.

"I think a few people saw him leave though," the young man added. "And if Ratcliffe finds out…"

"It could be disastrous," the Gambler finished. "Alright, Alright. I'll keep an eye on Ratcliffe. You follow John and make sure he stays out of trouble with the locals. Your friends can vouch for you, but not for him. Terra nodded his thanks before teleporting outside of the settlement's perimeter in time to overhear Ratcliffe order the young man, Thomas, Terra believe his name was, to find out where John was sneaking off to, and report back to him. Terra winced in sympathy when Ratcliffe called the young man a "slipshod sailor and a poor excuse for a soldier" before warning the boy, who was only a few years older than Ven, not to disappoint him again. As the young man jogged into the wilderness, Terra silently followed, hoping to avert any potential catastrophes.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be easier said than done. Ratcliff's greed had caused Heartless to start appearing throughout the forest, meaning that every time one showed up, Terra had to break away from following Thomas in order to prevent them from harming the young man. By the time he caught up with the red headed boy, it was too late. Kocoum, a young man who'd only been a child the last time Terra was here, had found Pocahontas meeting with John and attacked him. The white-haired Keyblade Wielder arrived just as Thomas shot the tribal warrior to save John's life. Aqua and Ven knelt over the body while John tried to hold Pocahontas back as she screamed at Thomas for killing the man. Terra stood and put a hand on Thomas' shoulder. The young man was clearly in shock over having killed someone for the first time. As the warriors of Pocahontas' tribe could be heard racing through the trees towards the sound of the gunshot, Aqua and Ven told Terra to get Thomas back to the village while John remained behind with Pocahontas and the other Keyblade Wielders.

When Terra and Thomas returned to the camp, things quickly worsened. By the time they got back, Thomas was panicking and told the others that Smith had been captured by the "savages." A chorus of angry shouts rose up as Thomas insisted that they had to save him. Terra attempted to explain what had really happened, but that battle was lost the moment Governor Ratcliffe emerged from his tent. With a few words and an unbearably catchy song, the greedy governor quickly goaded the men into a bloodthirsty frenzy. There was no stopping the settlers now. Terra shoved Ludor into a tent and explained what had actually happened, and the two decided that they weren't going to stand aside in fear while innocents were slaughtered on both sides. So they snuck out of the camp to meet up with Aqua and Ven in the hopes of stopping this situation from escalating further.

When they arrived, the tribes stood above the settlers on an upraised cliff while the chief prepared to execute John Smith. Before any of the four could do anything, Pocahontas threw herself in front of her lover. When the chief ordered his daughter to stand back, Pocahontas refused, telling her father that she loved John.

"Look around you," she said, gesturing at the scene of two armies prepared for war. "This is where the path of hatred has brought us. This is the path I choose, father. What will yours be?" After a moment of contemplation as the wind blew past, the chief held his staff in the air with both hands.

"My daughter speaks with wisdom beyond her years," he said. "We have all come here with anger in our hearts, but she comes with courage and understanding. From this day forward, if there is to be more killing, it will not start with me. Release him." Pocahontas and John embraced once his bonds had been cut. Terra and the other off-worlders smiled in satisfaction as both sides lowered their weapons. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and a body fell to the ground.

* * *

#### The New World – Open Plains

#### July 18, 2015

 _I really should get paid for all of this,_ Lea joked to himself as he dodged a blob of Darkness Sephiroth hurled in his direction. He, Tifa, and Cloud had been fighting the One-Winged Angel since sunset, and the fight was beginning to come to a draw.  _It's time to end him for good,_ Cloud thought to himself as he parried another blow with his sword.  _His genes can't protect him forever. Xehanort gave him the DNA of some Inhuman monster, Jenova, that attacked Radiant Garden centuries ago in the hopes of endowing his creation with the powers of that monster. But that doesn't make him invincible. He can still be killed._ A massive column of fire jolted him out of his thoughts as the three warriors ran away from the flaming pillar's magnetic pull. The battle continued to rage until the sound of a gunshot momentarily distracted everyone. By the time everyone had turned their attention back to the duel, Sephiroth had already lost interest in the fight.

"Another time, Cloud," the winged man taunted before disappearing in a flash of darkness and feathers. Cloud growled in frustration that his arch-nemesis had escaped yet again. The longer the hunt for Sephiroth went on, the longer it would take for him to avenge Zack. The black-haired warrior had been a surrogate older brother to Cloud after Radiant Garden fell. But when Sephiroth was born, his first act was to hunt Zack down in Olympus Coliseum and murder him. When Cloud first confronted the monster about it, his only response was "family makes you weak." Since then, the man was determined to destroy the demon who had killed the closest thing he'd ever had to family.

* * *

#### The New World – Shore

#### July 18, 2015

"Is he going to make it, Thomas?" one of the settlers asked. Ratcliffe had attempted to murder Pocahontas father, only for John Smith to take the bullet for him. He survived, but he needed to return to England for medical treatment.  _I wish we could just heal him now,_ Aqua thought to herself as she, Ven, Terra, and Ludor stood and watched,  _but this is one of those worlds where they're really into the whole "burn the witch" routine._

"The sooner he gets back to England, the better," Thomas replied as the men finished loading the last bit of "cargo" (actually an armored Ratcliffe gagged and bound with chains) onto the rowboat. The settlers attempted to move John's stretcher back to the ship, but he refused to be moved until Pocahontas came to see him off. True to his word, Pocahontas soon emerged from the woods, accompanied by several of her fellow tribesmen and women, each carrying a basket of corn and other foods. Pocahontas gave John a sample of bark from Grandmother Willow, a talking tree Terra, Aqua, and Ven had met on their last visit to this world. Her father gave the Englishman his cape as a gift, telling him that he will always be welcome among the tribe.

Although John asked Pocahontas to come with him back to England, she reluctantly replied after a long moment of contemplation that she was needed here with her people. She and John kissed one final time before they loaded his stretcher onto the boat to return to the ship. As the ship sailed away, Pocahontas took off through the woods, following the ship as it sailed out of the river until she stood on top of a cliff overlooking the sea. As this was happening, Terra, Aqua, and Ven said their goodbyes. While Aqua, Ven, Lea, Cloud, and Tifa planned to stay for one more night, Terra and Ludor had a deadline to meet, and returned to the World That Never Was, although not before Aqua gave Terra his armor back, condensed into its gauntlet form. Terra gratefully slipped it on under his coat and gloves before giving Aqua a kiss goodbye and vanishing into a Dark Corridor.

* * *

#### The World That Never Was – Hall of Empty Melodies

#### July 18, 2015

 _Something's wrong,_ Terra thought as he and Ludor emerged from the Corridor into the Hall of Empty Melodies to find Xemnas, Braig, Isa, and Master Xehanort waiting for them.  _We've never had a welcoming committee before. What happened?_ He and Ludor stood calmly at attention, waiting to see what would be said and what would happen.

"And where is Ratcliffe?" Isa asked in his usual demanding tone. "Your mission was to bring him back here after he'd started the war he sought to instigate. Why didn't you?"

"There was a bit of a complication with that," Ludor replied calmly, taking the lead. "His attempt to ignite a war between the settlers and the tribes failed, and he was killed when his men turned on him. They attempted to kill us as well, so we got out of there as quickly as we could."

"Interesting…" a familiar voice called out as a large, black-haired man emerged from the hallway leading to the Grey Area, accompanied by Xehanort's time-travelling younger self. "I don't feel dead," Governor Ratcliff remarked as Terra and Ludor stared in horror at his pointed ears and golden eyes.  _There goes our cover,_ Terra realized. But he and Ludor kept their expressions neutral just in case.

"Imagine my surprise when I found myself in London a few years after you were sent to that world," Young Xehanort added. "And when searching the prison for suitable candidates should our deal with Ratcliffe pan out, I found the man himself locked away. Once I let him out, he had some interesting things to say about what had happened. Particularly regarding your true allegiances."

"And you would believe this greedy, opulent, self-serving man who would say anything to get what he wants over your older self?" Terra asked, speaking with his older voice and struggling to keep calm.

"Perhaps," Master Xehanort answered in his ancient, gravelly voice. "Or perhaps not. However, there is only one way to find out." In the blink of an eye, the old man summoned his Keyblade and fired a blast of Dark Fire at the two conspirators. Terra raised his and instinctively to block, summoning his original Keyblade, Ends of the Earth, in the process. "It's been a long time, Terra," Master Xehanort remarked as three dozen Sniper Nobodies materialized around the two traitors. "It seems that my control over your heart has grown lax in recent days. A pity. But at least that's what backups are for." With a gesture of the old Keyblade Master's hand, the Snipers opened fire.

Terra quickly began blocking every shot he could while Ludor pulled out his playing cards and began using them as shields to deflect the shots that Terra couldn't. Compared to their own power the snipers weren't even a challenge. The two deserters cut through the low-level Nobodies like a hot knife through butter. In less than a minute they'd fought their way out onto Naught's Skyway. That was when things got harder, as Berserkers spiraled down from above. The Berserkers were harder, but still nothing compared to facing a fellow Organization member. In a few minutes they had fought their way down to the lower levers of the Hall of Empty Melodies. And that was when the path ended.

Master Xehanort began cackling evilly as the ramps leading to the central plafrom retracted, leaving the two escapees stranded on a tiny island floating above a near-bottomless chasm. Terra turned and glared accusingly up at Braig, who simply flashed the young Key bearer an apologetic smile that said  _"Sorry dudes, can't help you. My cover is more important than yours. You're on your own."_ "I am disappointed in you Terra," the old man called out from the upper level. "So much potential wasted."

"Wasted because of YOU!" Terra spat defiantly as Ludor constructed a bridge of cards to get them to the entrance to Twilight's View. Terra unlocked the door with his Keyblade and the two fled the hall.  _They're toying with us,_ Terra realized as they raced down the stairs into Twilight's View, panting heavily as they ran.  _They have no intention of letting us escape the castle alive. They're just trying to demoralize us by giving us hope that we'll make it out and then crushing it._ As the realization dawned on him, Isa appeared at the bottom of the stairs in front of them, blocking the door to the Crooked Ascension. Behind them, Young Xehanort warped in to block the stairway back to the Hall, cutting off their escape.

"Your hearts have led you to obliteration," Xemnas taunted as he appeared in midair, floating over the empty space between the castle walls and the walkway on which the escapees stood. With a flick of his wrists, ten thousand ethereal blades appeared in the air in a half-dome surrounding the two traitors, ready to rain fire upon them from above. As Xemnas pulled back his arms to fire the lasers, Ludor quickly brought up his cards to form a small box that protected them as the cards began to vibrate as the firestorm began. But they wouldn't hold for long.

"Open a Dark Corridor," Ludor shouted as the continuous laser fire started making dents in the cards.

"To where?" Terra asked incredulously as the floor began to vibrate as well. He looked down to find another dome of ethereal blades firing laser bolts as the glass.

"Anywhere but here," the Gambler shouted back as he began sweating profusely from the strain of keeping the shield up. "The shield won't hold forever, so HURRY UP AND OPEN THE BLOODY CORRIDOR BEFORE WE BOTH DIE!" So Terra quickly opened up a small black portal beneath his feet before jumping in. Ludor timed his jump just right so that he could summon the enchanted cards back to his hand and jump through. The portal closed a millisecond before the glass floor of the walkway shattered from the strain of laser fire. Xemnas quickly dismissed the blades as Isa and Young Xehanort ran to inspect the scene of the battle.

"Contact Sephiroth," Xemnas ordered as he floated down. Tell him he has two new targets. Top priority. Double his pay if you have to, but those traitors need to be hunted down and killed. Isa, tell Braig to start tracking them and…."

"There's no need for that," a voice called out. Everyone turned to find the One-Winged Angel himself standing at the top of the stairs. "They've landed on my mother's prison. I can sense it. I can easily find them there."

"And how do you know they won't run for their lives once they figure out you're on the same world as them?" Isa inquired curiously.

"Because on the desolate world mother was imprisoned on, the weather is tied to her moods," Sephiroth answered. "My pilgrimages there have revealed that my presence there has the same effect. All I need to do is be in a murderous mood and the weather will herd them right to me. Fear not, they'll be dead soon enough." And in a flash of feathers and darkness, he was gone.

* * *

#### Unknown World

#### July 18, 2015

"Oh thank goodness, you're alright," Terra heard a woman's voice say as he opened his eyes to find himself lying on his back inside a small cave. What bothered him the most about this situation was not the fact that they were underground. No. It was that he and Ludor were currently lying in a large cage. Groaning as he sat up, he took in his surroundings. Standing in front of the cage was a young woman with short hair. Her voice had an English accent so maybe they'd landed on a world that was connected to London at some point in time. Behind her, a tall man with short, dark hair leaned against the wall glaring suspiciously at him. Terra temporarily halted his examination when he heard his fellow fugitive regaining consciousness next to him.

"Where are we?" Ludor asked cautiously as he took in their surroundings, unsure of their captor's intentions.

"If you're talking about the planet, I don't know," the girl replied. "Nobody knows what this world is called. I've only been stranded here for two months. Will's been stuck here for twelve years, and even he has no idea what it's called."

"Don't give them my name," the man, Will apparently, called out from the cave entrance. "We can't even be sure if they're real."

"Of course they're real," the girl retorted. "How else would you explain them falling out of a portal in the ground."

"Excuse me," Terra began, interrupting the argument that had broken out between Will and the girl. "But now that we've established that everyone here is real, can we get on with the introductions so we can get let out of this cage?" Blushing embarrassedly, the girl came over and opened the cage.

"Thank you," Terra replied as he took off the Black Coat before walking out of the cage with Ludor right behind him. Beneath his coat, Terra was wearing his old shirt (without the straps to form a Recuscant's Sigil, since he'd removed those once Aqua had warned him about that back in Arendelle) and a pair of khaki pants that were skinner than his old ones. He still wore the Organization XIII boots, but now he felt more like himself again. "I'm Terra," he said as he shook hands with their two former captors. "My snarky friend over there is Ludor."

"Jemma Simmons," the girl introduced herself. "Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, capitalizing the i in Inhuman was intentional. If you've seen the third season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., you'll understand what I'm getting at with Jenova's origins.


	39. Oakey Oats

#### The Lanes Between – Sora, Donald, and Goofy's Gummi Ship

#### July 17, 2015

 _I hope Kairi's okay,_ Sora thought to himself as he laid down in his bunk aboard the Gummi Ship while Donald piloted the ship towards their next destination. Even though he trusted Riku and Mickey to protect her, he was still terrified at the thought of her getting captured by Xehanort. Thinking about everything that madman had done made Sora eager to finally put an end to the maniac's schemes. The only reason they hadn't stormed the World That Never Was yet was because unlike other worlds, which moved in fixed orbits, Xehanort's stronghold drifted aimlessly through space, and was only accessible by Gummi Ship if someone arrived via Corridor of Darkness and used the Auto-Pilot remote to summon their ship to the world's current location.

And thinking about Xehanort had only reminded Sora of his brush with darkness in the Realm of Sleep. He'd talked to his parents and gotten over the trauma of having his heart shattered, but every now and then he still had nightmares about what the insane Keyblade Master had put him through. Even though he knew in his head that darkness itself wasn't inherently bad, Xehanort's actions made it hard to accept in his heart, even more so after what had happened the first time he'd failed the Mark of Mastery exam. He was glad to have earned the title of Master, even if it was only a meaningless formality at this point, but the scars Xehanort had left him with still lingered.

Although his test at Castle Oblivion had taught him to bear the pain of others without being broken by it, he still had nightmares about succumbing to the darkness and becoming Xehanort's puppet. Being forced to do horrible things he would never dream of doing. Hurting Kairi. He knew that darkness wasn't evil. Everything Riku had been through was proof of that. But Xehanort was, and he needed to be stopped. As Sora sat up in his bunk, Goofy walked in.

"Can't sleep?" the dog asked as he sat down on his own bunk.

"Yeah," Sora admitted with a sigh. "I'm just… I'm scared… of what'll happen if I fall into darkness a second time. I'm scared that if Xehanort makes me one of his vessels, he'll make me hurt Kairi. If that happened..."

"It won't," Goofy reassured his young friend as he came over and put a comforting hand on Sora's shoulder. "The whole point of your test at Castle Oblivion was for you to prepare your heart so that you wouldn't have a repeat of what happened the last time you took the exam. Besides, as long as you still focus on doing the right thing, you're not gonna fall into Darkness again."

"Thanks, Goofy," Sora replied, slightly reassured. He was still nervous, but talking about it had helped to ease his worries a bit. Not a lot, but enough to make him feel a little better. When Donald's voice came over the intercom announcing their arrival at a new world, he and Goofy raced to the cockpit to grab their gear and prepare to disembark.

* * *

#### Oakey Oaks – Cluck House

#### July 17, 2015

After exiting the Gummi Ship, the three heroes found themselves on a quiet street late in the evening. The sun had gone down and everyone who lived nearby had clearly gone inside for the night. As they walked down the street, they heard a familiar voice singing loudly. As they snuck into the backyard of the house they'd heard the singing come from, they heard their old friend, Chicken Little, talking to someone. When the other person in the room left, Sora called out quietly to get their friend's attention.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" Chicken Little greeted as he gestured for the Keyblade Master and his companions to come on up. "It's nice to see you guys again," he said once the three of them had quietly climbed in through the window. How have you guys been?"

"Pretty good," Sora replied. "Just flying around the universe fighting bad guys. What have you been up to?" Chicken Little regaled them with the story of how a piece of the sky fell on his head, and how he turned it around by joining the school baseball team and winning the big game. As the four of them talked, Chicken Little hopped up on the window and looked up at the sky. As he told them how he'd wished on a star, which he then pointed out to them, for a chance to finally live down the falling sky incident, Donald and Goofy gasped as they noticed the star starting to get a little bigger… and bigger… almost as if…

"It's falling out of the sky!" Sora exclaimed as they backed up from the window. Chicken Little stopped for a moment to clean his glasses so he could see, causing the start to smack him in the face. Sora, Donald, and Goofy stared in shock at the blinking lights that lined the underside of the hexagonal panel. After snapping themselves out of their stupor, they scrambled to help their friend out from under whatever this thing was. Once Chicken Little was free, they all gasped as they looked in horror at the section of the sky with the exact same star they'd just been looking at. Chicken Little was about to scream when Sora put his hand over the young chicken's beak and a finger over his own mouth. Chicken Little nodded to show he understood before.

"Not again," he whispered. But before they could do anything else, his dad, Buck Cluck, came upstairs. Sora, Donald, and Goofy hid behind the bed while Chicken Little covered the panel with a blanket. The trio waited silently in the corner while Chicken Little explained to his dad that the noise he'd heard was him falling out of bed. Once he was gone, the three visitors stood up as Chicken Little gingerly lifted up the blanket to find that the piece of the sky was gone. Satisfied that he didn't have to worry about it anymore, the young chicken took a step forward, only to trip on the edge of the panel and fall flat on his face. Sora ran to help his friend up as a light blue hexagon pattern began shimmering all over the panel.  _It didn't disappear,_ Sora realized.  _It camouflaged itself._

After helping Chicken Little lift the panel off the floor, the off-worlders leaned it against the wall so they could examine it. As soon as they did so, it immediately changed its camouflage to match the wall behind it. After holding his arm between the panel and the wall to test the camouflage system of whatever this thing was, Chicken Little picked it up and carried it over to the window. When the camouflage changed to match the sky, the chicken dropped the panel in shock. Fortunately, Sora and Donald caught it before it could crash to the ground and make more noise while Chicken Little raced off to call his friend, Abby. When Abby and his other friends, Runt of the Litter and Fish out of Water arrived and were introduced to Sora and the others, Chicken Little showed them the panel.

"Okay," Abby began after commenting on how bizarre the panel was. "Let me guess, you haven't told your dad yet."

"Well…" Chicken Little replied nervously.

"I knew it," Abby added with a satisfied smile. "And why haven't you told him? Because there hasn't been any of you, your dad, talk talk talking." When Chicken Little tried to protest she cut back in. "Alright, that's it," she when on. "We are doing an intervention. You have got to stop messing around and deal with the problem."

"She's right," Runt commented.

"Abby please," Chicken Little begged. "This is exactly what fell on me the first time. There's no way I'm bringing this up again with him.

"No he's not," Runt commented.

"Runt," Abbey warned.

"Sorry," the pig replied. "I'm a gutless flip flopper."

"Okay," the duck continued. "I'm sure there's a simple, logical explanation. I mean, it could be a piece of weather balloon. Or maybe it's part of some experimental communications satellite."

"If it were part of a weather balloon, though," Goofy commented, "wouldn't it be made of fabric instead of metal?"

"I don't care what it is," Chicken Little replied. "I just want it out of here, gone from my life for good. Everything back to normal."

"Hey, remember when that icy blue stuff fell out of the sky?" Abby asked. "Everyone thought it was from space and stuff, and it just turned out to be frozen pee from a jet airplane."

"That does not look like frozen pee," Sora retorted with a look that said " _that frozen pee story sounds disturbing."_

"I don't care what it is!" Chicken Little nearly shouted while Fish turned the panel over and began pressing buttons on the back. "Now are you going to help me get rid of it or not?" he asked as Fish pressed a button and the panel started glowing brightly. After a pulse that knocked everyone back, the panel began to hover. Fish experimentally climbed onto it just before it began flying around the room. Everyone ducked as the flying fish careened overhead before floating out the window. "NO!" Chicken Little gasped as the panel carried Fish up to where it had fallen before slamming back into place. Fortunately, the glow-stick fish had been carrying had snagged along the outside of the panel, giving the group something to follow as they raced off after whatever it was that had taken Fish.

Everyone except Runt (who kept crashing into everything) leaped over fences as they raced after the flying glow-stick. The entire group was panting heavily as they raced through the forest towards the town baseball stadium. Abby pointed out the glow-stick hanging in place overhead as everyone caught their breath. Before anyone could think of what to do next, the glows-stick, or whatever it was hanging out of, began to spin rapidly, forming a large green circle as the strange object descended from the sky. Everyone stood still in confusion as light bulbs shattered and a tornado of dirt kicked up around them. Everyone ran to avoid being crushed as the camouflaged panels above them began floating down towards the ground. When the dust finally settled, the group of six looked over to see a large, circular spaceship sitting in the middle of the baseball field.

Everyone hid in the dugout silently as two large metallic aliens with six long legs and glowing green eyes emerged from the ship. Everyone stifled a gasp as the two aliens marched out of the field, doing something that caused the wooden fence to rise up over them to let them out as they headed into the forest. While Runt began panicking over all the worst possible things that could have been done to Fish, Sora, Chicken Little, and the others were looking at the ship, until Abby spotted Fish waving at them from the empty cockpit.

"Oh snap," Chicken Little remarked as the group got out of the dugout and made their way towards the ship. Once inside, the two trios made their way through the dimly lit corridors of the spacecraft. After a long time sneaking around (and with a lot of panicking by Runt), they finally found Fish standing behind some kind of alien X–Ray machine. But before they could leave, they quickly realized that Runt had wandered off. They found him standing in a large circular chamber, looking up a massive star chart on the ceiling. On the map, every world in this solar system had been crossed out except for one: this one.

"We're next," Chicken Little whispered as Runt fainted with shock.

* * *

#### Disney Town – Castle Security Center

#### July 17, 2015

"How'd it go?" Max asked as his best friend PJ walked into the room.

"My dad agreed to the deal," PJ replied. "He'll give up everything he knows about Maleficent's plans in exchange for protection from her allies."

"Are you okay, PJ?" the young Royal Guard asked as he walked his friends to the castle dining hall for lunch. "I know talking to your dad was hard, but I'm here if you want to talk about it. That's what friends are for."

"Thanks Max," PJ replied. "But I think I'm going to be okay. Mom and Pistol are gonna visit him tomorrow. I think… I don't know. He's done so many bad things, but at the same time, he's shown that he's willing to make amends for everything he's done. I think maybe I'm finally ready to start forgiving him."

"Well hopefully he really can be redeemed then," Max said as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "We'll have to get in touch with the King to report on what intel he gives up. Hopefully it'll be useful in bringing Maleficent down for good." With that, the two friends headed into the dining hall for lunch. The two of them had decided that today would be a good day to visit when their wives had gone out for a shopping day, leaving the two friends to their own devices. But they didn't mind. For PJ, talking to his dad was another step in the road to Pete's redemption.

* * *

#### Oakey Oaks – Alien Spacecraft

#### July 17, 2015

Unfortunately, the aliens returned to the ship as the seven were running away from the map room. Runt screamed as the aliens pursued the group through the ship, everyone oblivious to a small orange blob that was following behind them. When they reached the airlock chamber, Donald, Goofy, and Fish were the first ones to dive through. Predictably, Runt got stuck in the hatch, forcing Abby and Sora to push him out from one end while Donald, Goofy, and Fish pulled from the other while Chicken Little held the door closed to keep the aliens from coming into the room. Eventually Abby and Sora were able to force the rotund swine through the opening before jumping down out of the hatch themselves, with Chicken Little right behind them.

"Come on, guys!" He shouted as the aliens emerged from the ship to pursue them. "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" As the seven heroes raced through the forest, the aliens swung from the trees by their mechanical tentacles to keep up. After Runt distracted them by causing them to crash into a low hanging branch, everyone except Sora, Donald, and Goofy tripped and tumbled down into the cornfield. Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran into the maze of cornstalks to find Chicken Little and his friends, but something familiar emerged from the shadows to interfere with that goal.

"Heartless!" Sora cried out as several new breeds of Heartless rose up from the ground to attack. The young man quickly transformed his Keyblade and attacked. But for every one the trio cut down, more rose up to face them. While the aliens cut their way through the cornstalks searching for the others, Sora and the others were too busy fighting the Heartless to run over and help. Eventually, the swarm of demons grew so thick that Sora was separated even from Donald and Goofy. As he looked around frantically for his friends while slaying Heartless, the swarm stopped, and a familiar figure with long white hair stepped in front of him.

"Ansem," Sora spat in disgust. "What are you doing here?"

"I merely came to talk to you," the man replied, trying to sound hurt that the young man was suspicious of him.

"Like you'd ever do something so casual if it didn't benefit you," Sora snapped.

"Then answer me this, boy," Xehanort's Heartless retorted with a huff. "How can you say Darkness is not bad, yet declare those who walk its path your enemy? By that logic it should be impossible for you and Riku to work on the same side. You should have spent the last two years at each other's throats."

"Because darkness may not be evil," Sora began, "but people like you are. Riku may use both Light and Darkness, but when every villain I face uses the power of Darkness for their own sinister goals, it's hard to see darkness as anything but a force of destruction. Something that only people like Riku have the strength to use without being corrupted by."

"Then I have one gift for you before I go," "Ansem" replied with a satisfied smirk. When Sora declared he wanted nothing from the man, he simply gestured with his outstretched hand, and an aura of Darkness emanated from the young Keyblade Master's chest.  _What's happening?_ Sora gasped as he struggled to breathe from the pressure this completely new, alien sensation was causing him.

"What did you do!?" Sora demanded when he finally gasped for breath.

"I only whispered to the darkness that already exists buried deep within your heart," the humanoid Heartless replied, trying and failing to sound innocent. "Just a little friendly reminder. No matter how much you rely on the light, you will always be tainted by Darkness. Only your beloved Kairi and the other six princesses are completely free of its influence." With that, the Seeker of Darkness disappeared into a Dark Corridor. For a moment, Sora just stood there in silence, processing what had just happened.

The ringing off a bell snapped Sora back to the present as he fought his way back into the horde of dark monsters. The bell stopped ringing as he reunited with Donald and Goofy while they fought their way through the storm. But by the time they finished off the last Heartless and made their way to the source of the noise, there was nobody there. However, there was a trail of footprints leading back towards the baseball stadium. The three off-worlders followed the trail and reached the fence outside the stadium just in time to hear Chicken Little's dad tell the assembled crowd how embarrassed he was by his son's behavior. Sora's heart went out to Chicken Little (not literally) when he heard everyone complaining about this being "the acorn thing all over again."  _The ship must have already taken off by the time Chicken Little was able to warn anyone,_ he realized as the townspeople walked out of the stadium. Despite the urge to run over and give his friend a hug, when he saw Chicken Little walking sadly home, Sora realized that their friend just wanted some time alone.  _We'll talk to him in the morning then,_ he decided, resolving to stay and help their friend.

In the morning, they found Chicken Little sitting alone in his backyard while his father argued his way through every hate-filled phone call he received over his son's "behavior" last night. Sora, Donald, and Goofy tried to comfort him, but his father's refusal to believe him had still left him feeling upset. As the young chicken sat on a tree stump moping, Abby tossed a magazine in front of him as she, Runt, and Fish came into the back yard.

"It there was ever a time to talk to your dad, it's now," she said with a reassuring smile.

"It's too late for that," Chicken Little replied sadly as Runt began to cry.

"Just try to think about it," she suggested as they walked away sadly, having done all they could to reassure their friend. A few minutes later, they heard more crying and turned to find a small, furry orange blob sitting in the back yard next to the tree stump. Everyone except Goofy and Fish started freaking out until Fish gurgled and stopped everyone.

"Awww…" Goofy said. "He's just a little kid." After a large amount of reassuring and started cuddling with the little three-eyed alien. Being a father himself, it was only fitting that he was the first one to interact with the alien child. As goofy comforted the young extraterrestrial, Fish somehow managed to communicate with it before relaying what he'd learned to the others.

"His name is Kriby?" Chicken Little began.

"They left him behind?" Abby finished.

"Don't cry," Goofy said as Chicken Little raced over to help comfort Kirby. "We're right here for you. We're gonna do whatever it takes to get you back home, okay?" Chicken Little held up a tissue to help wipe Kirby's tears. After a few moments of adorable "aww"ing as the young alien sneezed, causing his fur to poof up. The amusement came to an end though, when the ground shook. The eight of them looked up to see large cracks appearing in the sky.  _I've got a bad feeling about this,_ Sora thought to himself as the cracks began to meet and form large hexagonal shapes. Everyone in Oakey Oaks looked up in horror as the cracked sections of the sky split apart and de-cloaked, revealing a massive alien armada. Within minutes, there were only eight people in town who weren't running around screaming as alien spacecraft large and small flew by overhead.

"Those are your parents?" Chicken Little asked as Kirby began dancing around excitedly while Fish translated the kid's babbling. "And they brought the Galactic Armada?" Everyone freaked out as Kirby started running past swerving cars to get to the approaching 


	40. The Big Game

#### Cable Town – Floating Islands

#### July 17, 2015

"My, my," Maleficent remarked as she watched the holo-projector depicting Terra and the other man's escape from the World That Never Was. "What a pleasant surprise."

"M' lady?" Diablo asked, curious as to what she found pleasant about the situation.

"This development has presented us with a new opportunity," she replied. "If we can capture those two before Sephiroth does, it will mean more leverage for us against both sides of this conflict."

"Brilliant as always, sweetheart," Hades commented as he strode into the room. "A squad of Leroys won't be enough but if we send Diablo and a few others after them, we should be able to net ourselves a rather large prize. Or better yet, create a cell that's impenetrable against all forms of magic, including Dark Corridors, and can only be accessed by one of Hamsterviel's teleportation devices. We set up a trail of breadcrumbs around various worlds until those two stumble into our laps and throw them in a cell from which they can't escape."

"Excellent strategizing as always, my dear," Maleficent replied as she leaned over and gave her lover a quick kiss. After dispatching Diablo to prepare both the cell and the hunting party, the two megalomaniacs headed back towards Maleficent's chambers. "Now," she continued with a seductive smirk. "I believe we had other plans for this evening..."

* * *

#### Oakey Oaks – Main Street

#### July 18, 2015

"Son," Buck cried out as he grabbed Chicken Little's arm before he could run off after Kirby. "There you are. Quick, get in the car, we've got to go!" Chicken Little tried to protest and explain about Kirby but his dad still wouldn't listen. When Chicken Little finally explained that the aliens were here to rescue their missing kid, Buck was still incredulous.

"Forget it," Chicken Little said. "You wouldn't believe me anyway." With that Chicken Little raced off after the alien child, with Sora, Donald, Goofy right behind him. Buck followed after them, with Abby, Runt, and Fish in the rear trying to explain to Mr. Cluck that his son was telling the truth. As the alien ships flew around overhead, the flying saucers began disgorging alien troops to attack on the ground. One bystander (apparently the town bully, Foxy Loxy) started throwing rocks at the invaders, only for them to fire some kind of disintegration weapon at her. The panic only intensified after that as Sora, Chicken Little, Donald, and Goofy raced through the streets to catch up to Kirby. Sora breathed a sigh of relief when Chicken Little saved the kid from being hit by a car by flinging himself off another car's antenna, causing both of them to land inside the town movie theater.

While all of this was happening, only the three heroes noticed more Heartless rising off the ground to take advantage of the chaos. After exchanging a few hand signals with Donald, and Goofy, the trio began wading through the Heartless to protect the civilians. As the alien ships flew by overhead, the Keyblade Master and his friends defended the people of Oakey Oaks of an even worse threat. Within a few minutes the main street was clear. They were just about to move on to the next cluster of Heartless when in a burst of green light, Donald and Goofy were gone. For a few moments Sora just stood there in shock, processing what he'd just scene. Two of his best friends…. dead. Vaporized right in front of his eyes.

"Donald..." he whispered as tears started to flow down his cheeks. "Goofy..." After a few minutes of grieving, another explosion knocked the young man out of his stupor. After taking in his surroundings for a moment, Sora did something he had never done before. He screamed.

This was not the scream someone made when they were scared or surprised. This was a deep, primal roar, fueled by a burning desire for righteous vengeance, the likes of which the worlds hadn't seen since the battle in the Keyblade Graveyard over a decade ago. And deep within the young man's heart, something else, something older stirred as well. If anyone looked at the furious young man in that instant, they would have thought they were seeing a ghost, since there was no other way to describe the rapid shifting of the boy's features. But because everyone was too busy running for their lives to pay attention to one grieving seventeen year old standing in the middle of the street, nobody noticed the way the young man's eyes briefly flickered between blue and gold, or his hair flashing between light brown and jet black.

With another angry roar, Sora tore through the heartless swarming the town, cutting through them like they were made of paper. Within minutes, they were all gone as the enraged Keyblade Master turned his attention to the fleet of spacecraft flying over the town above. With a running jump he practically flew up into the sky and began slashing the underside of each ship, eliminating their thrusters and causing them to crash. As the ships were eliminated, he saw Chicken Little and his dad standing on top of city hall, with the alien mothership floating in the air above them. As he flew through the air to bring it down, a voice snapped him out of his rage-driven rampage of revenge.

 _"_ _Sora, don't!"_ Roxas called out in his head.  _"This isn't you."_

 _But… Donald and Goofy are…_ he mentally protested.

 _"_ _It doesn't matter,"_ Xion added.  _"If you destroy that ship, how will Chicken Little get Kirby home? Are you really willing to prevent an innocent child from reuniting with his parents just for petty vengeance?"_

Realizing that his Nobody and Replica were right, Sora took a deep breath and calmed down as his enhanced jump carried him down to where Chicken Little and Buck Cluck stood on the roof of city hall. Chicken Little was holding Kirby up in the air, shouting at the kid's parents that their child was alright and to stop the invasion. As metallic alien troops rose up from the ground to attack, Sora smacked them away with his Keyblade. Just as he was about to let out a victorious cheer, they were hit with the laser, and everything went black.

Sora jolted back to consciousness to find himself, Chicken Little, Buck, and Kirby floating in an empty black void. The three terrestrials looked around to find everything and everyone that had been hit with the aliens' death ray floating aimlessly in this empty space.  _Everyone's okay,_ Sora thought to himself as he realized that the ray was a teleporter rather than a disintegrator.  _That means…_

"Donad! Goofy!" He shouted as he spotted his friends floating in the void.

"Sora!" his friends shouted as they swam through the darkness towards him. Once they reached him, he started crying tears of joy as he hugged his two friends. He was relieved that they were alive. Their tearful reunion was cut short, however, when a large, three-eyed red blob appeared in space in front of them, Chicken Little, and Buck.

"WHY DID YOU TAKE OUR CHILD!?" The alien, most likely Kirby's dad, demanded in a loud, booming voice.

"Hey! Hold on there, buddy!" Buck shouted back. "You're the one that left him behind!"

"THEN WHY DID YOU ATTACK OUR RESCUE FLEET!?" Kirby's father asked angrily.

"You were flying around attacking innocent people!" Sora shouted. "Is it really that hard to figure out!?"

"SILENCE!" The alien father commanded as two more copies of him appeared around the room. "RELEASE THE CHILD!" Buck complied and Kirby drifted down to what appeared to be the floor, where he promptly ran over toward a space in what was apparently the wall, where a door opened, briefly flooding the room with light as Kirby was reunited with his mother. The group's relief that the child was safe was short lived, however.

"YOU HAVE VIOLATED INTERGALACTIC LAW 90210!" Kirby's father boomed. "A CHARGE PUNISHABLE BY IMMEDIATE PARTICLE DISINTEGRATION!" Everyone in the small group braced themselves as they were quickly surrounded by weapons in all directions.  _Kairi, I'm sorry we'll never get to have our second date,_ Sora thought as he prepared himself for the end.  _Maybe we can still be together in our next lives._ Suddenly, a small orange blob that could only be Kirby appeared next to his father. He babbled something to his dad.

"Melvin, honey," a yellow blob that was clearly Kirby's mother appeared in space on Melvin's left. "He's saying they're telling the truth. It was just a misunderstanding."

"Well…" Melvin replied. "This is awkward."

"Yes," Kirby's mom said. "Yes it is."

"I suppose I should…" Melvin began.

"Put the big guns away," his wife instructed. Sora and the others breathed a sigh of relief as the disintegrator cannons retracted. Then they abruptly dropped to the floor after Kirby's mother instructed her husband to put everyone down. Then she instructed him to turn off the "big voice" despite his protests. After that, everything went dark as all the electronics in the room were shut down. Light enetered the room when the door opened to reveal two of the mechanical aliens from earlier, which quickly opened to reveal Melvin in one and Kirby and his mom in the other.

"Hi," Melvin said sheepishly. "Anyone want to try the big voice?"

After the entire mess was sorted out, the aliens quickly set about rebuilding the town and putting back everything and everyone that had been teleported onto the ships. Melvin and his wife explained that they stopped by this world to collect acorns every summer on their way to visit his wife's parents. The armada left once everything had been put back, explaining that because of the incident there was going to be an investigation by the Galactic Federation to determine whether or not to court martial the military leaders who had approved the invasion. Nevertheless, everyone parted ways on good terms. Kirby and his parents returned home and Chicken Little was finally accepted by the citizens of Oakey Oaks. Sora, Donald, and Goofy returned to their Gummi Ship after the initial post-invasion celebration to get caught up on finding Xehanort's new targets.

* * *

#### Unknown World – Cave Hideout

#### July 19, 2015

After going to great lengths to convince Will Daniels that they were real and not illusions, Terra and Ludor gave the astronaut and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent a rough explanation of how they'd wound up in this Kingdom Hearts-forsaken wasteland. Both had been initially skeptical of the magical aspects of the Keyblade, but after Terra had demonstrated by summoning his blade and casting a few random spells, they'd been more willing to accept the explanation of the story of the Keyblade War. Simmons in particular was fascinated by the idea of the ancient conflict, although the enthusiasm to learn more about it was tempered when Terra explained that that curiosity was what lead Xehanort down the path that lead to his and Ludor's current predicament.

Once Terra and Ludor had told their story, it was Will and Jemma's turns to share theirs. Will had been an astronaut sent through a portal to protect the scientists who came through to study the planet. Terra cringed a bit when Will described how the scientists eventually committed suicide (or in the case of one, attacked Will, forcing him to kill the man in self-defense) after an encounter with an apparently living sandstorm, leaving the astronaut stranded on the inhospitable world alone. Jemma's story, though less intense, was no less tragic. The portal Will and the scientists had used to reach this place was apparently contained inside a large stone that, despite looking solid, would periodically liquefy. This was how Simmons found herself dragged through the portal into this hellhole minutes after her long-time friend and fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist Leo Fitz asked her out on a date.

Once they'd all traded sob stories about how they got there, Terra finally asked what the deal was with the sandstorm. According to Will, the sandstorm was merely a cover used by a powerful entity that had been killing everyone who came through the portal for centuries, confirmed by his discovery of ancient artifacts from past eras in the entity's favored haunt, which he'd dubbed "the No-Fly Zone." Terra explained to Will and Jemma that creating portals was part of his and Ludor's curse, and offered to bring them back to their world when they all heard it. The sound of a sandstorm raging above ground.

"Something's wrong," Will said as he stood up. "It's never come near here while we stayed inside."

"Can you feel that?" Simmons asked as she instructed everyone to place their hands on the wall. And they did feel it. A rapid but steady vibration reverberating through the rock. "It almost feels like music." And she began humming to the tune the vibrations created. An intense feeling of dread came over the two fugitives as they recalled hearing that nightmarish melody every time the One-Winged Angel unsheathed his blade.

"Sephiroth," Terra whispered fearfully as the tune Simmons was humming reached a point where the beats lined up in perfect sync with the syllables of that monster's name.


	41. Treasure Planet

#### The World That Never Was – Round Room

#### July 18, 2015

 _The crowd feels a whole lot smaller,_ Braig mused to himself as he sat on his throne in the Round Room, noting with distaste that Governor Ratcliffe and Prince Hans now took the seats once held by Terra and Ludor.  _But then again, alone is how I work best. Terra and Ludor can't rely on me for help, which is exactly why I gave shrimpanort the idea to check the prisons in London for potential vessel candidates. I'd done my history research. I knew those two would throw Ratcliffe under the bus eventually. All I gave them was their freedom and the information they needed to act against Xehanort. They don't need my help, and they don't need to trust me either. Things will work out better for me if everyone wants my head on a pike anyway._ He turned his attention back to the meeting as the old man's Heartless reported in from his mission to the world of Oakey Oaks.

"It's as you predicted," Xehanort's Heartless reported. "Vanitas' connection to Sora through Ventus allowed him to survive by burying himself so deep inside Sora's heart that even when the boy reawakened Ventus, Vanitas' consciousness lingered within Sora."  _Shit,_ Braig cursed mentally.  _And here I was hoping that was just a wild goose chase. Looks like I've got one more thing to take care of._ "However," the Heartless continued. "There was a complication with the experiment. While I was able to reawaken Vanitas, there were two obstacles that stood in the way of his complete emergence."

"Roxas and Xion," Xemnas said matter-of-factly.

"Indeed," the Superior's Heartless confirmed. "Their influence was able to bring Sora back to his senses before Vanitas was able to regain enough awareness to take control of the boy's body."  _Well in that case,_ Braig thought to himself as his eight thousand year old mind immediately began calculating plans and contingencies to prevent or otherwise delay Vanitas' addition to the Organization,  _the kid's desire to give those two their own lives can't be allowed to come to fruition. Sorry Kiddo, Poppet, but keeping Vanitas buried in Sora' subconscious takes precedence over you two getting your freedom._ He returned his attention back to the gathering as Hans questioned how they were to remove Roxas and Xion as obstacles to Vanitas's awakening.

"Isn't it obvious?" Isa retorted. "They need to be separated from Sora, be given their own bodies."  _How ironic,_ Braig thought.  _Saix hates Xion with all his guts and was right up there with Ansem the Wise in the whole "she shouldn't exist" department, and yet here he is, the first one to argue for giving the replica her own existence._ Isa went on to explain the Key to Return Hearts, and how they could create it.

"In other words," the incarnation of Xehanort from immediately after his possession of Terra thirteen years ago summarized. "In order to obtain our final member, we need to gather all seven Princesses of Heart regardless of whether or not we get the battle of seven guardians and thirteen seekers we've been preparing for."

"Precisely," Xemnas confirmed drolly.

"And what effect will Vanitas' awakening have on that boy, Ventus?" Ratcliffe inquired from Terra's chair, having been informed of the specifics of Vanitas' existence.

"None whatsoever," Isa replied. "Ventus's heart spent the last decade within Sora's body healing. When it was returned to his body, Vanitas' soul clung to Sora strongly enough that he was split off from the rest of Ven's heart without harming him. A form of metaphysical mitosis, if you will." With that line of topic of discussion over with, the conversation turned towards the recent defection of Terra and Ludor.

"Sephiroth will find and kill them soon enough," Isa commented.

"Indeed," Xemnas added. "We need not concern ourselves with those traitors any longer."

"Oh, but we must," Master Xehanort interrupted from his seat at the top of the room.

"Buy why?" his Heartless asked curiously. "We already have twelve vessels and despite the setbacks, our plans to reawaken Vanitas are still right on schedule. Why trouble ourselves worrying over deserters?"

"Because," the old man replied, "even if we have twelve vessels now, that can still change. After all the effort we put into ensuring that they became my vessels, it would be a shame to let that effort go to waste. Which is why I instructed Sephiroth to bring them back alive so that I may re-plant pieces of my Heart within them to ensure that there will be no more trouble." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, and after discussing their next move, the meeting adjourned.

* * *

#### The Lanes Between – Sora, Donald, and Goofy's Gummi Ship

#### July 18, 2015

 _Roxas and Xion must be thinking of their favorite song or something,_ Sora thought as he found himself absent-mindedly humming an unfamiliar tune to a song he'd never heard before, yet seemed strangely familiar.  _Must have been something from either the virtual Twilight Town or some other world they'd been to on a mission,_ he guessed as he walked through the corridors of the Gummi Ship. His thoughts then turned to how Kairi was doing. After leaving Monstropolis, she, Riku, and Mickey were headed for the Pride Lands to check in with Simba and see if Maleficent had hidden any bases there. It was unlikely, but because no one would suspect it that made it the perfect place for Maleficent to hide allies and supplies.  _Kairi'll probably love it there,_ Sora thought as he imagined what his girlfriend would look like in lion form. He just climbed into the cockpit when the ship lurched, knocking him out of his thoughts.

"What happened!?" He shouted as he regained his footing.

"The star we just passed went supernova!" Donald answered as he started turning the ship away from the storm. Suddenly, the ship's short-range radio crackled as someone spoke.

"Attention unidentified ship," a woman's voice called out, "This is Captain Amelia of the RLS Legacy. Your ship is too small to survive the supernova on your own. You'll have to dock with us in order to ride out the storm."

"Thank you captain," Donald spoke into the intercom before flying the Gummi Ship up to the coordinates Captain Amelia provided in order to dock inside the lower level of what appeared to be a flying ship. Not something more modern like a cruise ship, but an actual, space-faring sea galleon. Deciding to worry about how such a thing was possible later, Donald, quickly moved the ship up into the Legacy's launch bay while Sora and Goofy quickly jumped out to tie the ship down. Chip and Dale, notorious for preparing their devices for every possible outcome, had installed cleats on all Gummi Ships had cleats for situations like this when the ship needed to be tied to something. As Sora and Goofy tied down the ship, Donald informed Captain Amelia of their arrival, and received instructions to head up to the deck and help the crew escape the building black hole. They reached the top deck in time for Captain Amelia, who was apparently some kind of cat-like alien, instruct the octopus-like helmsman, Mr. Turnbuckle to take evasive action.

"All hands, fasten your lifelines!" A large, rock-like alien shouted as everyone dashed to their stations as the ship raced to escape the oncoming wave of fire and death. Sora, Donald, and Goofy immediately joined in. Nobody said anything to them, since apparently Amelia had informed everyone of the trio's arrival to prevent accusations that the three heroes were stowaways. Captain Amelia began shouting orders to the rock alien, Mr. Arrow, who then relayed them to the crew. "SECURE ALL SAILS! BRING THEM DOWN MEN!" The rock-man bellowed as the duck, dog, and Keyblade Master joined the rest of the crew in folding up the sails (which Sora was amazed were simply solar panels made of cloth) so that they wouldn't get damaged by debris from the supernova. The trio pulled on the ropes with the crewmen to finish closing up the sails while one alien down on the deck used the ship's laser canon to destroy any incoming fireballs before they reached the ship.

"SILVER!" They heard a young man's voice scream as they looked down to see a kid around Ventus' age pulling a large man with a mechanical arm off the ship's prow.  _Who is that guy?_ Sora wondered before everyone stood still in horror as a massive meteor tumbled through space towards the Legacy. Suddenly, the meteor reversed its course as the supernova devolved into a black hole. Mr. Turnbuckle lost control of the helm as the ship was caught in the pull of its gravity well. As the ship was buffeted by the waves of energy periodically erupting from the center of the swirling vortex of death, Sora and his friends heard Captain Amelia talking with a dog-like alien about something before she ordered Mr. Turnbuckle to unfurl the sails again. Everyone except the three outsiders, who immediately figured out the captain's plan, grumbled as they climbed back up the riggings to undo all their hard work.

The Keyblade Master and his companions raced to untie the sails as the boy, Hawkins apparently, went to secure everyone's lifelines. The sails were quickly unfurled as another wave buffeted the Legacy, throwing Mr. Arrow overboard. As Sora raced up the mast to pull him in, his heart sank when Mr. Arrow's lifeline snapped, sending the stone-sinned man tumbling to his death in the abyss. The dog alien's proclamation that the last wave was coming snapped Sora back to reality.

"HOLD ONTO YOUR LIFELINES GENTS, IT'S GONNA BE A BUMPY RIDE!" Captain Amelia shouted as the ship began to fall into the vortex.  _Please work, please work,_ Sora mentally repeated to himself from where he, Donald, and Goofy clung to the railing on the deck as they tumbled into the darkness. And then, in a blinding flash of light, they were free as the RLS Legacy rode the final wave out of the dark depths like a rocket. Everyone cheered as for the captain as she walked down the stairs. She brushed off all complements for her handling of the situation and praised the dog-man, Doctor Doppler, for his astronomical advice being helpful for dealing with the solar waves. Sora chuckled as the doctor accidently fumbled his response.  _He's definitely got a crush on the captain,_ Sora realized with a smirk. He'd slipped up the exact same way in front of Kairi enough times to recognize how people felt about each other when they did that.

The excitement and celebration died down however, when the rest of the crew realized that Mr. Arrow had fallen overboard. A spider-like alien came forward carrying the rock-man's hat.

"I'm afraid Mr. Arrow has been lost," the spider said sadly. "His lifeline wasn't properly secured." Sora thought as he looked around and examined the crew. While he'd always believed in never judging people based on appearances, he had a bad feeling in his gut that they were all going to cause trouble later. And there was something off about what the spider had said.  _If Mr. Arrow's lifeline wasn't secure,_ Sora thought,  _then how was he able to start pulling himself back onto the ship before the rope snapped?_

"No!" Hawkins protested, "I checked them all." The guy ran over to where the lifelines were all tied up, only to find that Mr. Arrow's wasn't tied there at all. The young man could only splutter and stare in horror and sadness at his apparent mistake.  _Something's definitely going on,_ Sora realized.  _That spider guy must have murdered him and gotten rid of the rest of the lifeline to cover his tracks. I'll have to tell that Hawkins kid as soon as I get the chance._ Captain Amelia delivered a brief eulogy for her fallen friend before instructing the rest of the crew to resume their posts and requesting that the three visitors follow her to her cabin to discuss repairs to their ship.


	42. The Launch

#### Cable Town – Floating Islands

#### July 18, 2015

"Do they actually stand a chance now that the Key bearer and his companions have arrived?" Cruella asked as she and Maleficent re-watched the footage from Treasure Planet. Boggs and that hunter had been dispatched to obtain the teleportation device Captain Flint once used to reach his hideaway without anyone ever finding it, but with the three "heroes" now aboard the vessel, their cover was all but blown.

"Most likely not," Maleficent replied in her stoic voice. "They have seen Gaston's face, and will inevitably rat him out once they realize he's aboard. However, there is a positive to be drawn from this. Sora and the others have yet to meet Randall Boggs, and so have no idea what he looks like. If Gaston's cover is compromised, Boggs can still salvage the mission. We need that teleportation system in order to expedite our troop movements." Neither one of them needed to say how important the acquisition of Flint's teleportation system was beyond expediting troop movements. With the system contained within the map to Flint's trove, they could almost completely eliminate the need for space travel. Oh, they would still need space ships for warfare and to keep planetary populations in line, and the Corridors of Darkness would see continued use for transport of small groups. But this device would allow them to move entire armies from one place to another in an instant, with no extra time to walk through the corridors or to fly between worlds.

"Anyway," the green-skinned fairy continued. "What have you heard from the hunting party?"

"Diablo and his hand-picked hunting team are scouring the known worlds for any sign of Xehanort's two fugitives," the fur-wearing fashionista answered. "There has not been any trace, but they will keep looking on every world known and unknown until we find them."

"They had better," the dark sorceress remarked. "For if Xehanort retrieves them himself, we will lose the potential bargaining power. And we cannot allow that."

"How much of this have you planned, exactly?" Cruella asked as they turned off the holo-projector to go eat dinner.

"Enough," Maleficent replied with a smirk. "Beyond the unexpected developments, I have prepared enough plans, contingencies, and even counter-contingencies to ensure that no matter the outcome of each individual skirmish with Xehanort's forces or the heroes of light, we will ultimately be the ones to come out on top."

* * *

#### The Lanes Between – RLS Legacy

#### July 18, 2015

When Captain Amelia heard the trio's story of the conflicts with Xehanort and Maleficent, she told them that once their current expedition was complete, she was going to offer her ship and her services to the coalition. She was furious when Sora told her that Scroop had framed the boy, Jim Hawkins, by untying Mr. Arrow's lifeline to hide the fact that the spider had cut the line himself during the chaos, even more so when they were able to identify another member of the crew, Gaston, as one of Maleficent's underlings. She and the three heroes made plans to have the two thrown in the brig the next morning. Until then the three heroes had no choice but to go along for the ride. The damage done to the Gummi Ship by the supernova was worse than they initially thought. The concussive force of the explosion had left their ship with damaged life support, jammed weapons, and a fried navigation system. The only positive things to be said were that the shields still worked and that it could still fly. They'd need to be towed back to Radiant Garden or Disney Town for repairs, making Sora extremely restless.

While he was grateful to the captain for letting them stay on her ship, he was anxious to get back out there and help in the fight against Xehanort. Which was why later that night, he found himself pacing the top deck to keep his mind off of everything that could go wrong while he, Donald, and Goofy weren't there to ears perked up when he overheard Jim Hawkins talking to Mr. Silver, the ship's cook.

"It wasn't your fault, you know," Silver said while smoking a pipe. "Why half the crew would be spinning in the black abyss if it weren't for –"

"Look, don't you get it!?" Jim shouted as he climbed down from the rigging and leaned against the main mast. "I screwed up. I mean, for two seconds, I thought maybe I could do something right. I just… I thought…. Forget it. Just… forget it."

"You didn't screw up," Sora interjected as he walked forward to comfort the younger teenager. After exchanging introductions with the cook and the cabin boy, the Keyblade Master continued. "Look Jim, Mr. Arrow didn't die because you didn't make sure his lifeline was secure. I saw him start pulling himself back towards the ship when he fell overboard. He wouldn't have been able to do that if you hadn't secured his line. Someone cut the rope and made it look like you forgot to tie it in order to cover their tracks." He didn't mention that it had been Scroop for two reasons. One was because Doctor Doppler and the captain explained that Scroop and Jim had apparently developed an animosity towards each other since the voyage started, and Sora didn't want Jim to confront the spider alien now and get himself hurt. The other was because despite Silver's friendly demeanor, they didn't know if Scroop had any accomplices, and no one wanted to risk their plans being overheard.

Jim and Silver were shocked by the news, but once Sora explained that Captain Amelia had a plan to flush out the killer, the conversation turned to more mundane topics. Silver showed Sora his pet, a pink, shape-shifting blob named Morph, before the three humanoids spent the rest of the night talking and sharing stories until they were all tired enough to head down to the cabin to sleep (or back to the Gummi Ship in Sora's case. He, Donald, and Goofy were sleeping aboard their ship to because of the security it provided and because they were just used to it). Sora really liked those two. Having learned from Jim that they were on a treasure hunt, he really hoped Jim was able to find enough treasure to rebuild his mom's inn.

"Remember, Jimbo," he hear Silver tell the fifteen-year old. "You've got the makings of greatness in you. But you've got to take the helm and chart your own course and stick to it, no matter the squalls." Sora smiled. He felt sorry that Jim had never had a father growing up, and was happy for the guy that Silver seemed to be filling that role. As he walked aboard the Gummi Ship (which he was thinking of officially naming the Highwind), Sora got a warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest. He knew what that meant: Roxas and Xion were seeing what he saw and getting a little nostalgic.  _Seeing Silver being a surrogate parent for Jim must remind them of Axel then,_ he realized as he climbed into his bunk. He'd been communicating with them in his sleep for the last few days after he reawakened Ventus, but after Oakey Oaks, he hadn't been able to talk to them at all.  _Hopefully that'll change soon,_ he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.  _But I wonder what happened?_

* * *

#### The Lanes Between - RLS Legacy 

#### July 19, 2015

The plan was a complete success. Scroop and Gaston were caught and thrown in the brig before the rest of the crew had even woken up. Captain Amelia made the announcement to them a few hours later once they were all awake.  _Hopefully with that Scroop guy locked up, nobody else will die on this voyage,_ Sora thought to himself as he, Donald, and Goofy walked around on the upper deck while the other crewmen discussed the revelation of Scroop's crime below decks.  _Too bad Jim slept through the whole thing. He would have enjoyed seeing the guy get locked up._ He was about to head down to the cabins to check if Jim was finally awake when a voice called out.

"PLANET HO!" The small, multi-eyed alien in the crow's nest shouted. Everyone raced to the railings to take a good look at their destination.  _So that's Treasure Planet, huh?_ Sora mused as he looked at the world's green rings.  _I guess the whole "X marks the spot" idea was a dead giveaway._ Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood in awe as they entered the planet's atmosphere from their spot near the entrance to the captain's cabin as Silver headed back to the kitchen to fetch a telescope to get a better look at the planet said to contain "the loot of a thousand worlds." A few minutes later however, the mood darkened when Jim came up.

"They're all pirates!" Jim gasped frantically to the trio as he raced into the captain's cabin without a moment's hesitation. Just as the three heroes registered what the boy had said, the rest of the crew turned to face them with murderous looks on their faces. Seconds later, Silver scrambled back onto the deck, blowing a whistle to get the crew's attention.

"CHANGE IN PLANS, LADS!" he shouted. "WE! MOVE! NOW!" At this a cheer rose up from the crew as Silver's multi-purpose mechanical arm transformed into a large cutlass before stepping away from the stairwell as Scroop and Gaston climbed out of the hold behind him.  _So Silver is… a bad guy?_ Sora thought as he, Donald, and Goofy quickly began to fight off the pirates with a combination of Keyblade transformations, magic spells, summoning magical theme park rides, and good old fashioned swordplay. After a few minutes the pirates began to break out the laser guns, forcing the trio to retreat to Captain Amelia's cabin and lock the door as Jim filled her in on the secret meeting he'd overheard. Before he could finish, the young man began to choke. Sora noticed that Jim's shadow appeared unusually round and way too thick for someone his size, and quickly deduced that one of the crewmen could turn invisible. Using the shadows to gauge the position of their head, Sora swung out with his Keyblade, causing a large purple, reptilian looking creature to become visible as it hit the wall unconscious. With the threat taken care of Jim caught his breath and finished explaining the situation to Amelia.

"Pirates on my ship? I'll see they all hang," she remarked as she started handing out laser pistols to both Jim and Doctor Doppler. After the doctor proved to be comically inept with guns, she turned to Jim.

"Mister Hawkins," Amelia instructed as she tossed him the map. "Defend this with your life." Just before Jim caught the golden sphere though, Morph grabbed it out of the air with his gelatinous mouth. Once Jim finished fighting the pink blob over the sphere, the group quickly blasted their way through the floor right before the pirates forced their way into the captain's cabin.

"We'll take our ship," Donald suggested as the six raced through the ship's lower levels down to the launch bay. "Most of the systems are still damaged but she's in good enough shape to get us down to the surface."

"Get in quickly!" the feline captain shouted as she locked the door behind them and used her laser rifle to melt the locking mechanism. Everyone quickly clambered aboard the Gummi Ship as Captain Amelia opened the bay doors. But before they could leave the ship, Morph grabbed the map from Jim's pocket just as the pirates broke through the door.

"Stand back!" Sora shouted as he and Donald fired spells at the approaching pirates, causing them to either be blasted back towards the door or slip and fall down to Treasure Planet below.  _I hope they survive the fall,_ Sora winced as he pictured what the result might look like if they didn't.  _There's a difference between destroying demonic monsters like the Heartless and sending living beings plummeting to their deaths, but right now, we don't have a choice._ His worries were compounded when Doctor Doppler leaned out and shot at something hanging from the ceiling, sending it crashing through the catwalks and bringing four more pirates down to the surface with it. Despite the gravity of the situation, he chuckled a bit when the captain asked the doctor if he'd actually been aiming for whatever it was he'd hit, and the dog man's incredulous surprise that he actually had.

While Sora and Donald's spell work kept the pirates from closing the hangar door, Morph had finally been cornered with the map. Jim stood on one end of the walkway, and Silver on the other, each trying to convince the small pink shapeshifter to bring them the map. Confused as to which way to turn, the floating blob flew into a coil of rope piled on the floor. Silver tried to reach for it, but his aging prosthetic slowed him down enough for Jim to race in and grab the map first. As soon as Jim, Sora, and Donald, leapt aboard the Gummi Ship, Goofy took the ship into a nosedive towards the world below. When the door closed, Donald scrambled up to the cockpit to take control only to find that Captain Amelia was a quick study when it came to flying a Gummi Ship. The pirates tried to shoot their vessel down with the Legacy's plasma canon, but thankfully the shields were one of the few things not damaged by the supernova. Within moments, the ship landed without further damage on the surface of Treasure Planet.


	43. Jim Saves The Crew

#### Treasure Planet – Forests

#### July 19, 2015

Once the group had exited the Gummi Ship, Captain Amelia instructed Jim to bring out the map so they could figure out where to get to the treasure. But when Jim pulled out the golden orb, it quickly transformed into a familiar, translucent pink blob.

"Morph!" Sora exclaimed as the tiny shapeshifter flew around Jim, giggling. "Morph, where's the map!?" Jim asked frantically. To demonstrate its location, the little blob turned into the coil of rope he'd flown into earlier. "ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" he shouted, "IT'S BACK ON THE SHIP!?"

"We need to sneak back up there and get it then," Goofy suggested, interrupting Jim as he tried to chase Morph in circles. "Before the pirates figure out it's there."

"We need to find a more defensible position first," Captain Amelia commented. "That way some of us can stay behind while a small group sneaks back onto the ship to retrieve the map." Suddenly, they all heard the approaching whine of an engine. "Get low," she whispered as they crouched in the shadow of the Gummi Ship. "We've got company." As they crouched in the shadows, they all looked up to see a flying longboat streaking over the treetops. No doubt the pirates were aboard.  _They must not have found the map then,_ Sora realized.  _Otherwise they would have taken their time getting down here. If they're following this quickly, then they're probably trying to catch up because they thing we still have the map._ After relaying this conclusion to the others, the group set off in search of a place to hide.

After an hour or so of moving through the jungle, they began to uncover part of the planet's secrets when Sora tripped over something in the ground. They'd previously discovered that the world's surface was covered in moss, but when they'd dug through it to figure out what Sora had tripped over, they discovered that beneath the moss was a thick layer of metal, rather than soil. A quick fire spell also revealed that a nearby rock was in reality a small metal dome. The group quietly opened the dome to discover that the inner reaches of Treasure Planet were entirely mechanical.  _A mechanical world huh?_ Sora thought to himself as they closed the dome and resumed their search for a defendable hiding place.  _That kinda reminds me of Space Paranoids._

A few minutes, later, Sora and Jim, who were walking far in front of the rest of the group to scout ahead, were discussing Silver's betrayal when they found it. A small, spindly-legged robot emerged from the bushes and tackled Jim in a large hug.

"I can't believe it!" the robot shouted. "Carbon-based lifeforms come to rescue me at last! Oh, I just want to hug you and squeeze you and hold you close to me." After pulling the robot off of Jim, the automaton, who was able to remember after a century of solitude and insanity, that his name was B.E.N., began rambling about what the pirate captain whose treasure they were after had been like. But when asked about the location of the treasure, the robot appeared to suffer some sort of breakdown, rambling about a big door opening and closing repeatedly, and the treasure being buried in the "centroid of the mechanism," before his memory crashed, forcing the robot to reboot, resulting in the duo having to introduce themselves as the rest of the group caught up. Jim tried to get B.E.N. to leave, but when the rusting automaton began talking sadly about how alone he'd been for the last hundred years, Sora decided to bring him along on the condition that he not be so loud.

Thankfully, B.E.N. ended up providing the solution to their problem, when he asked if they could make a pit stop at the cave that he called home. The entire group quickly made their way inside the cave, where B.E.N. offered Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia drinks, thinking that they were a couple.  _Those two are definitely going to end up together,_ Sora thought to himself as he watched Captain Amelia give the doctor a warm smile when he denied that they were a couple. The doctor then uncomfortably changed the subject to the markings on the cave walls, speculating that they were the hieroglyph writings of the ancient culture which created the map. After all, he pointed out, Captain Flint likely hadn't built this place himself, but simply repurposed it. The discussion was cut short however, when B.E.N. remarked that he saw more of their friends and began shouting from the doorway. A minute later, Silver called out to Jim, asking to talk to him, claiming it wasn't a trick.

"Doubtless he's come to bargain for the map," Captain Amelia remarked from here seat in the corner.

"That means that he thinks we still have it," Jim said what they were all thinking as their theory was confirmed. A few minutes later, Jim went outside to talk to Silver and stall for time while the others quietly debated who to send back for the map. Sora winced as he heard Jim and Silver start shouting at each other outside while those inside agreed that Jim and Sora would return for the map while Donald and Goofy stayed behind to defend the doctor and the captain. A few minutes later, Jim came back inside and relayed Silver's ultimatum, after which Captain Amelia briefed him on the plan while discussing how best to sneak past the pirates' camp. B.E.N. only added his contributions to the group when he revealed that his cave contained an entrance leading down into the planet's miles and miles of inner machinery. Based on where they'd come from their landing site, Sora, Jim, and B.E.N. walked through the world's inner workings until they emerged from the hatch that the group had discovered near their ship hours ago.

They silently made their way up to the ship, where B.E.N. took off to disable the Legacy's laser cannons while Jim quickly grabbed the map from its hiding place. As they made their way through the ship's corridors to bring B.E.N. back to the ship, the alarm went off. Groaning at the robot's incompetence, the duo ran up to find him before he could do any more damage, only to be confronted by a familiar spider-like being.

"Look who's here," Scroop remarked menacingly as a battle quickly broke out. Sora quickly started casting spells and swinging his Keyblade at the oversized arachnid while Jim started shooting with the pistol Captain Amelia had given him earlier. After a few minutes of fighting, B.E.N. accidentally turned off the ship's artificial gravity, causing the two boys to start tumbling upward into space while Scroop clung to the mast. Sora quickly pulled himself and Jim onto the pirate flag at the top, and looked down to see Scroop clambering up after them.

"Do say hello to Mr. Arrow for me," the spider remarked menacingly as he began cutting the rope the duo was holding onto. When they scrambled to grab the mast, Scroop quickly came up to kill them himself. When Jim's gun floated out of reach, he and the Keyblade Master quickly leapt over the spider and down the mast.

"Tell him yourself," the cabin boy retorted as he kicked Scroop into the flag, causing the partially cut rope to snap in two, sending the spider tumbling off into the abyss of space. After taking a moment to catch their breath once B.E.N. restored the gravity, the three of them (along with Morph) stealthily returned to their hideout in B.E.N.'s cave. But to their horror, they arrived to find Doppler, Amelia, Donald, and Goofy captured, and Silver's crew waiting for them. The cabin boy, Keyblade Master, and robot were quickly captured despite their best efforts to fight off the pirates. Fortunately for them, however, none of the pirates could figure out how to open the map, putting Jim, the only one who knew how, in a position of power to negotiate, demanding that the group be brought along in exchange for Jim leading them to the treasure with the map.

The heroes' power only increased when none of the pirates knew how to fly a Gummi Ship, putting Donald back in the pilot's seat. After an hour or so of flying along the path indicated by the map, they ran out of land to follow. Donald set the Gummi ship down next to the green line marking their path, which ended right at the edge of a cliff. Agitated at the lack of treasure, one of the pirates knocked Jim into the dirt. Sora broke free of his bindings and raced over to help his new friend, only to stand back in shock when he planted the map into the dirt, causing the cliff to emit a bright green glow. A glowing star map appeared in the air above the golden sphere, while seven beams of green light raced over the landscape of treasure planet like circuits to converge on the edge of the cliff.

The converged beam shot up into the air before stopping and widening until a triangular doorway made of energy appeared before the assembled crowd.  _That's what BE.N. meant by a big door,_ Sora realized as Jim voiced the thought aloud. While Jim experimented with the different points on the star map, Sora quickly spotted Radiant Garden. He silently took out his camera and took a picture of the map so that he and Donald could plot a course from Montressor Spaceport, where the expedition began, to Radiant Garden so that they could get repairs once this was over. Silver started getting impatient and began pressing random planets on the holo-map while B.E.N repeated his "centroid of the mechanism" ramblings. Sora and Jim quickly realized that the mechanism was Treasure Planet itself, and that the treasure was buried at its center. When Jim made that connection aloud, the pirates quickly began to dig until their implements promptly broke on the planet's metal shell. As Silver started complaining about how they were supposed to reach the treasure, Jim pressed the holographic Treasure Planet, causing the door to open to reveal the treasure room.

Everyone silently walked through the doorway and stood in awe to find the largest supply of treasure in existence. Jim, Silver and B.E.N. stood in awe while the other pirates immediately dove into the veritable ocean of reaches. Realizing that Gaston and that purple reptile weren't among the pirates, Sora turned back to the door and noticed the red beam across the bottom of the door, and the blinking light on the metal posts on either side of the door.  _Uh oh,_ Sora realized as he looked between the red light and the massive laser cannons looming overhead.  _This whole place is rigged so that if anyone tries to take the treasure, the whole planet will self-destruct. We've got to get everyone out of here. I just need to make sure the others are free though._ Taking out his communicator, he quickly called the Gummi Ship's comms, hoping that someone would answer.

"Sora, this is Doppler," the canine doctor answered. "The captain, your friends, and I managed to free ourselves and throw the pirates in the brig. What's going on in there?"

"The entire planet is booby trapped," he answered frantically. "The planet is rigged to self-destruct if anyone tries to steal the treasure, and the pirates already tripped the alarm. It's only a matter of time before this place explodes."

"Understood," the doctor replied. "Donald and Goofy, and the captain stepped out to deal with a few of Maleficent's agents who showed up attempting to steal the map. They just returned now. We'll take your ship back to the Legacy so we can use the portal to return to Montressor Spaceport."

"Got it," Sora nodded as he spoke. "I'll round up everyone else before the place blows." With that, he hung up and leapt into the sea of treasure to find Jim. He found his friend on board Captain Flint's ship just as he planted something in the back of B.E.N.'s head.  _He found B.E.N.'s memory chip,_ Sora realized.  _But if it was on Flint's ship, it must be because the guy didn't want B.E.N. telling anyone about the self-destruct. We really need to get out of here._

"Guys," he shouted as he leapt onto the ship. "We've got to get out of here. The entire place is rigged to blow if anyone tries to take the treasure."

"That's right!" B.E.N exclaimed as his memories returned and his eyes glowed electric blue instead of their former sickly green. "Flint took my memory chip so that I could never tell anyone about his booby trap." As if on cue, one of the cannons became disconnected from the ceiling and plummeted into the sea of treasure, causing an explosion that sent coins and jewels everywhere. Knocked off target by the falling comrade, the other cannons began directing their laser fire through the sea of treasure rather than into the vents they'd been firing into earlier.

"Donald, Goofy, Doc, and the Captain went back to get the Legacy," Sora shouted as Jim ran over and attempted to hotwire Flint's ship. "We're going to get everyone out of here and set the portal to Montressor Spaceport." Understanding that he didn't need to hotwire the ship, Jim sent Sora and B.E.N (whose memory chip had been found clutched in the hand of Flint's skeleton) to go rescue the others in the core while he tried to grab at least some treasure so that he could help his mom. Once the surviving pirates were safely locked away in the Legacy's brig, Sora went back to get Jim and Silver. He found Silver trying to hold onto Flint's loot-laden ship with his cybernetic hand and reaching to help Jim, who was hanging onto a ledge on the other side of a widening chasm for dear life, with his organic one.  _Hang on, Jim,_ Sora thought as he raced over towards them. Sora smiled a bit when Silver let go of the ship and raced over to catch Jim before he fell into the planet's molten core.

Sora reached the two in time to help them both up from the ledge, and together the three of them raced out of the portal back onto the planet's surface. Captain Amelia shouted for Sora to set the portal to Montressor Spaceport, and after taking a moment to find it again on the map, they quickly boarded the ship and flew through the portal with one minute to spare before the planet's destruction. Once the heroes had left, Gaston and Randall emerged from the trees and snatched the map out of the ground before departing through a Dark Corridor just seconds before the world blew up.

* * *

#### San Fransokyo – Akuma Island

#### July 19, 2015

"Here you go, Doc," Randall Boggs said as he presented the diminutive gerbil-like creature with the golden sphere that functioned as they key to Treasure Planet. "We couldn't cut out pieces of the mechanism like you wanted, but we were able to use the 3D subterranean scanners you invented to create specs for the mechanism so you can reverse engineer it."

"Excellent," Dr. Hamsterviel replied as he hastily accepted the orb. "Once I've had the opportunity to study it, we can duplicate it and allow us to expand our empire faster than we originally planned to."

"Speaking of plans," Gaston commented. "How's the robot you've been working on coming?"

"It is coming along very well," the hamster-like being replied. "I have successfully created a system which will allow the large robot to control the smaller ones that were found with it. We have already begun mass-production of these "Micro Bots" in order to meet our needs. The project should be complete within a few more days. At which point, we will be ready to finally test it on the unsuspecting population of this world." The mad scientist continued cackling evilly over his project even after his two visitors were long gone, only stopping when Yzma shouted for him to be quiet so she could focus on potion brewing.


	44. Game Central Station

#### Radiant Garden – Residential District

#### July 19, 2015

 _Okay,_   _let's do this,_ Lea thought to himself as he made his way through the streets of Radiant Garden to the address he'd been told was Ienzo's new workplace. As he rounded the corner, he had to double check the address to make sure he'd come to the right place. At the address that Even had reluctantly given him stood a small wooden building with a sign on the roof that read "Radiant Arcade."  _An arcade?_ The former Flurry of Dancing Flames asked himself as he crossed the street and entered the arcade.  _Really Ienzo?_ True to Even's word, he found Ienzo inside the arcade dressed in black shoes and his usual black pants, but instead of the white lab coat and grey vest, he now wore a blue shirt that said "Video Games ruined my life. Good thing I have two more," with two red, pixelated hearts beneath the text.

"Isn't that shirt a bit macabre considering our pasts?" he asked with an amused chuckle as the former Cloaked Schemer turned around to face him.

"That's exactly why I got it in the first place," the young man laughed as he finished taping an out of order sign to one of the game cabinets. "It's been a slow day today, so what's going on?"

"Nothing," the red haired man replied. "I just… I wanted to apologize. I never really got the chance to say this earlier, but I'm sorry. For destroying you back in the Organization."

"It's alright," Iezno replied. "Sure, I'm a little mad but since I'm whole again because of it, I can't really complain."

"So," Lea added, turning and gesturing to the video game cabinets. "You really decided to open up this old arcade?"

"Well," the former Number 6 replied, "I always loved this place when I was a kid, and after everything I've done in the Organization, I have no desire to be a scientist again, so I thought, why not? What I find funny is when I started exploring the city I discovered that not only did it survive the destruction of our world the first time, but that during their occupation of the castle, Maleficent and her allies would periodically come down and play some of the games themselves. Urusla and Hades still hold the highest scores on Mortal Kombat, and Hook takes up the entirety of the top ten rankings for Pac-Man." The two former Nobodies laughed at the mental image of Maleficent and her allies standing around playing arcade games when they weren't going around destroying worlds.

"So what's up with that one?" Lea asked, pointing out one game cabinet the younger man had just posted the out-of-order sign on.

"Something was up with Felix-it Felix Jr. this afternoon," the former scientist replied. "The game kept glitching, characters wouldn't show up. In general, the game wouldn't run. Which was strange because it was working just fine this morning." Suddenly, an idea popped into Lea's head.

"Hey Ienzo," he began. "You know how Ansem's computer had the whole Grid inside of it?"

"Yes," Ienzo replied, but just as he was about to ask why Lea was asking that question, he suddenly realized what the red-haired man was suggesting. "You don't think…?

"Only one way to find out," the former Number 8 finished. While a few kids trickled into the arcade, Ienzo quickly put one of his new employees in charge for the day before he and Lea walked over to the Fix-it Felix Junior cabinet.

"So how are we going to get inside?" he asked. "It's not like we can just digitize ourselves into the game like we do to access the Grid."

"Simple," Lea answered as he summoned his Keyblade. "Sora, Aqua and Ven have all used their Keyblades to open gateways to other worlds. If I repeat the technique in front of the cabinet, my theory is that it will allow us to enter the game." With that, a beam of light shot out from his blade, the Oath of Flame, causing the screen to emit a bright glow beneath the orange laminated paper taped on top of it. After taking a moment to grab his old spell book, Ienzo and Lea were transported into the gaming world.

* * *

#### Game Central Station – Niceland

#### July 19, 2015

When the light faded, Lea and Ienzo found themselves inside the eternally night-time world of Fix-it Felix Junior. The apartment building looked so much more vivid compared to the 8-bit resolution of the screen outside, and for a moment, the two former Organization members just stood there, marveling at the fact that they were now inside a video game. Reminding themselves why they had come there, the two of them walked over to the crowd of small, stout citizens gathered at the base of the large apartment building which served as the game's main setting.

"Excuse me," Ienzo called out to get everyone's attention. The entire crowd's collective jaws dropped when they turned around and saw who was talking.

"Oh my gosh," Felix exclaimed as he freaked out. "You… You're…"

"Yes," Ienzo bluntly replied. "It's me. The guy who runs the arcade. As for how I got inside the game, it's a long story, which judging by your panic I don't have time to explain right now. What happened here?"

"The game's been put out of order," all the game's NPCs wailed. "Ralph didn't show up this morning and now we're all doomed."

"What do you mean doomed?" Lea asked curiously.

"If Ralph doesn't come back," a stout NPC named Gene replied, "our game will be unplugged. We'll all lose our homes, or worse, our lives. Those who make it out before the plug is completely removed will be left homeless and unemployed. But the unlucky souls left behind will die with the game as our world implodes in a wave of death and destruction." Unbeknownst to the chubby denizens of the game, Ienzo and Lea's faces were contorting into various expressions of horror, guilt, and disgust. Unplugging a game sounded disturbingly similar to what happened to a world when it was destroyed by the Heartless.  _I'm never going to unplug a game here, ever,_ Ienzo resolved as he shot Lea a glance to indicate how he felt about the entire situation.

After promising not to unplug the game, Felix suggested that Wreck–it Ralph, the game's antagonist, had probably fallen asleep in the washroom in the bar game Tapper's again. Although Ienzo noted that the use of the word "again" implied dissatisfaction with his life as a potential motive for Ralph going AWOL, he still couldn't help but chuckle about the idea of a restaurant game being used by the characters as an actual restaurant when the game wasn't being played. Nevertheless, the two former Nobodies followed the crowd to a nearby train station out of sight from the screen as a train slowed to a stop and an orange blob with legs and a long snout hopped out.

"Oh, it's Q*bert." Felix announced to the crowd before turning to face the visitor. "What brings you here neighbor?" Q*bert responded with a series of unintelligible sounds accompanied by a speech bubble with random symbols over his head.

"What's he saying, Felix?" Gene, one of the leaders of the Nicelanders asked.

"Stand bye," the repairman replied. "My Q*bertese is a little rusty." Lea shot Ienzo a confused glance as Felix began conversing with Q*bert in the same unintelligible sounds, before the orange sphere made a set of sounds whose meaning apparently shocked the small repairman. After apparently asking Q*bert for confirmation that what he was saying was true, he stood still.

"Ralph's gone Turbo!?" he stated incredulously as the other Nicelanders gasped in what sounded like shock and horror.  _I guess Turbo is what they call when someone leaves their game,_ Ienzo thought to himself before asking what it meant as confirmation.

"You see," Felix began. "Back when the arcade first opened years ago, Turbo Time was by far the most popular game. Turbo… He loved the attention. So, when Road Blasters got plugged in and stole Turbo's thunder… Boy was he jealous. So jealous that he abandoned his game and tried to take over the new one. Turbo ended up putting both games and himself out of order, for good."

"Yikes," Lea remarked. "Not good. So, any idea where he's gone?" Felix turned back to Q*bert, who was able to confirm that Ralph was headed for Hero's Duty, a brand new FPS game that Ienzo had acquired and installed a week ago when he officially reopened the arcade. So Felix, Ienzo, and Lea hopped on the train back to Game Central Station, the transit terminal located inside the arcade's surge protector, before catching the next train to Hero's Duty. The entire the time, the two outsiders couldn't help but marvel at the elaborate nature of the world within the games.

* * *

#### Unknown World – Cave Hideout

#### July 19, 2015

"Terra, we need to go," Ludor remarked, snapping Terra out of his horror driven-stupor. "Now."

"But what about them?" Terra asked, gesturing at Simmons and Will. "We promised we'd take them home."

"That was before they sent the bloody One-Winged Angel after us," Ludor snapped.

"Hang on," Simmons interrupted. "What's going on? What is Sephiroth?"

"The most dangerous man in the universe," the Gambler of Fate answered bluntly. "He's a laboratory experiment gone horribly right who works as a freelance mercenary for hire when he's not slaughtering villages for fun. Once he's been given a goal, he will not hesitate to kill everything and everyone who stands in the way of achieving it. And since he's hunting us, he will slaughter anyone who gives us shelter in order to get to us."

"If this sandstorm is caused by him," Will began, "then I've been surviving him for the last twelve years just by hiding in this cave, so as long as we stay here, we'll be fine."

"No," the Organization's former number 10 replied. "The only reason you're still alive right now isn't because of this cave it's because he was toying with you and he's had more important things to worry about. Now that he's after us, he'll never let anything as paltry as a few feet of rock stop him from getting to us. Now, where's the exit to this cave. Assuming he hasn't blocked it already, we'll need a quick getaway." Grumbling, Will quickly packed up his supplies while Simmons pocketed her phone (the only thing she'd had on her when she'd been sucked through the portal), before leading the group towards the ladder leading up to the surface of the planet.

Before they departed though, Will had to run back to the sleeping area to grab a few things he'd almost forgotten. He made it fifty feet from the ladder when the cave roof collapsed on top of him. When the dust cleared, everyone stared in horror as the astronaut lay face up on the cave floor with a ten-foot katana piercing his chest. Holding the sword was a man dressed in black and red, with long silver hair that reached past his hips, and a single black, feathered wing emerging from his back. Sephiroth.

"GO!" Terra shouted as he launched a Firaga Burst spell at the winged assassin while Ludor and Simmons quickly began climbing the later. "WE NEED TO MOVE NOW!" Fortunately, the fireball bought the three survivors enough time to get out of the cave. Terra handed Simmons his Organization robes for her to wear as they ran through the desert. They needed to get out of Sephiroth's line of sight in order to get away without being followed. A massive pillar of fire emerged from where the cave had been as the Gambler, the Key bearer, and the scientist raced across the hellish landscape in the hopes of outrunning the relentless warrior.


	45. Wreck-it Ralph

#### Game Central Station – Hero's Duty

#### July 19, 2015

The trio quickly arrived in Hero's duty to find a dystopic, hellish landscape eerily reminiscent of the ruins of Hollow Bastion.  _Looks like this is one of those sci-fi shooter games, then,_ Lea thought to himself as they emerged from the futuristic military train. Unfortunately, Felix's loud jumping sounds set the soldiers on edge, causing them to open fire on the trio the instant they exited the train tunnel.  _Guess these guys are a little trigger happy,_ Ienzo remarked as they dodged the hail of bullets and energy fire. Fortunately, none of them were harmed thanks to Felix's insane skill at dodging projectiles and a few Reflega spells. Eventually, an explosion knocked Felix forward, causing him to land behind the group of space marines, where the leader knocked him to the ground with a swift kick to the gut.

"Slick Tiddlywinking, Pint-size," the woman obviously in command of the unit commented as she pointed her gun at the repairman's chest. The two former Nobodies jogged down the ramp to try and diffuse the situation, ignoring the guns trained on them by the other troopers.

"I'm Fix-it Felix Jr., Ma'am," Felix introduced himself as he cringed in fear from the gun. "From the game Fix-it Felix Jr." When he opened his eyes however, the repairman was astonished by the beauty of the woman in front of him.  _Great,_ Lea thought to himself.  _Love at first sight. This is going to drive us bonkers fast._ When asked what their business was, Felix replied that he was looking for his colleague, Wreck – it Ralph. The woman in charge, Sergeant Calhoun, told them that the marines had neither seen nor heard of him when they were interrupted by the loud sound of metal buckling coming from the tower in the distance. As they made their way towards the large imposing structure, a small ship blasted off from it. As the ship flew around erratically, it flew low enough over the bridge they were currently standing on that Lea, Ienzo, Calhoun, and Felix could see a figure matching the Nicelanders' description of Ralph sitting in the cockpit struggling with some kind of sci-fi alien monster clinging to his face.

"Cy-Bug," Sergeant Calhoun whispered in horror as the ship dove into the train tunnel.  _It's gonna crash in the station,_ Ienzo realized as he and Lea raced back to the tunnel with Felix and Calhoun in hot pursuit. Along the way, Ienzo and Lea introduced themselves and explained that they'd come into the game world to fix Felix's game from the inside. When they reached the station, the Surge Protector, a holographic security guard, walked them over to the game the shuttle had flown into.

"Yeah, he flew in here like a hot shot," Surge Protector complained. "Then he flew into that sweet place like a crazy person." He indicated a station labelled "Sugar Rush" as he walked away.

"Cy-Bugs will chew up that game faster than a chicken-hawk in a coop of crippled roosters." The Sergeant summarized. Ienzo raised an eyebrow at the blonde woman's unusual analogy before Felix expressed confusion at what was going on. "What are you thick?" she asked the repairman. "There was a Cy-Bug on that shuttle." Seeing the others were just as incredulous as Felix was, she asked if they even knew what a Cy-Bug was.

"Can't say that I do, ma'am," Felix replied.

"Cy-Bugs are like a virus," she explained. "They don't know they're in a game. All they know is eat kill multiply."  _Sounds uncomfortably like the Heartless,_ Ienzo summarized mentally. "Without a beacon to stop them," the sergeant went on, "they'll consume Sugar Rush. But do you think they'll stop there?"

"Yes," Felix answered enthusiastically.

"Wrong," she snapped. "Viruses don't stop. Once those Cy-Bugs finish off Sugar Rush, they'll invade every other game until this arcade is nothing but a smoking husk of forgotten dreams."  _Remind me to track down the developers of Hero's Duty and have a nice long "talk" with them about the dangers of creating Heartless-like A.I. programming,_ Ienzo thought to himself as Calhoun ordered one of her men to give her the three cruisers they'd brought along, one for herself and two for the gamers. While she and the two former Nobodies walked towards the train tunnel to Sugar Rush, Ienzo and Lea overheard Felix ask one of the marines, Kohun, if the sergeant was always this intense, only for the man to inform him of Callhoun's tragic backstory. How her fiancé had died on their wedding day because she'd neglected to do a perimeter sweep.

"Wait!" Felix called out as the three warriors readied their hover-boards. "I'm going with you."

"Like fun you are, Short stack," Calhoun replied as she checked her weapons. "You die outside your game, you don't regenerate. At least these two gamers have weapons that can cut through Cy-Bugs like a hot knife through butter and can actually defend themselves."

"Well you won't regenerate either ma'am," he replied sternly. "And it is my job to fix what Ralph wrecks. And I cannot ask you to risk your life cleaning up his mess. No flex on this one Ma'am. I am coming along with you." With an exasperated sigh, the sergeant snapped her fingers and indicated her hover-board, giving the handyman the silent order to join her. Once he was aboard, the four of them took off down the train tunnel to destroy the Cy-Bug before it could reproduce and destroy Sugar Rush.

"Well," Calhoun remarked as the three cruisers flew along the trail of destruction Ralph's escape pod left in its wake. "I'll say this much, they don't call your friend "Wreck-it" for nothing. There's the shuttle." As they approached the crashed ship, Calhoun, Ienzo, and Lea jumped off their boards and raced to the open cockpit, readying their weapons as they went.

"Is he in there?" Felix asked as the other three withdrew their weapons.

"Nope," Calhoun bluntly replied. "Lucky for him, otherwise I would've slapped his corpse." This caused Ienzo and Lea to emit barely suppressed chuckles at the woman's humorous comments and analogies. "No Cy-Bug either," she added. "Gotta find it before it lays its filthy eggs." With that, she pulled out a hand-held scanner as she led the group into the candy-cane forests. "It came this way, but the sugar particles in the atmosphere are jamming my sensor. I can't get a reading," she complained as they walked past a pool of frosting. "So what is it with this Wreck-it joker anyway? Why'd he go AWOL?"

"I wish I knew ma'am," Felix replied. "He was acting all squirrely last night, going on about cake and medals, but I never thought he'd go Turbo."  _Looks like I was right about Ralph being dissatisfied with his role as a villain,_ Ienzo thought to himself as Felix filled in the sergeant on the story of Turbo.

"The selfish man is like a mangy dog chasing a cautionary tail," Calhoun remarked when she heard the story, ignoring the giggling of the two gamers at her choice of analogies.

"I don't think he was being selfish," Ienzo interjected as they climbed onto a fallen candy-cane tree that stretched over a small canyon. "From what I've been hearing it sounds like he was tired of the fact that the heroes of the games got all the recognition off-duty while as a villain he was shunned by everyone even though he's a nice guy on the inside, and went looking for a game where he could get that kind of recognition."

"I never realized Ralph felt that way," Felix replied sadly. "He never said anything and so we all just ended up ignoring him. If only we'd treated him better, then he'd probably never have gone Turbo in the first place." Suddenly, there was a quick beeping sound, and all four heroes plummeted down into the canyon as the branch disappeared.

"What is this?" Calhoun wondered aloud before noticing the sign. "Nesquicksand!?"

"Seriously!?" Ienzo shouted incredulously. "We're drowning in chocolate!?" Felix's attempt to hop out and grab a few vines failed spectacularly, causing the small repairman to launch into a frenzied panic, causing the quartet to sink faster.

"Get ahold of yourself!" Calhoun shouted as she slapped him across the face. Suddenly, the vines overheard began laughing, revealing that they were made of laffy taffy, and apparently laughed at whatever they thought was funny. This led to an amusing scenario as Calhoun repeatedly (albeit reluctantly) punched Fix-it Felix in the face as he used his magic hammer to heal himself each time. With each punch the Laffy Taffy snaked closer and closer to the chocolate quicksand, and the former Nobodies couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. After a few dozen rounds, the candy vines were low enough that they could all grab on and ride the rubbery candy back up into the trees (or in Calhoun's case, Felix held the vine in one hand while pulling her to safety with the other). This led to a semi-romantic moment between Felix and Calhoun which was quickly interrupted by the sergeant firing her pistol into the air to stop the romantic music the laughing vines were singing.

"Enough with the goo-goo eyes," she remarked. "We've got work to do let's go." She groaned when the scanner lost track of the Cy-Bug after they climbed down from the tree. Realizing that they could get a better view from the air, Ienzo asked Felix if his hammer would be able to fix the broken shuttle.

"Can do," he remarked with a smile that Lea could only describe as lovesick.  _He's totally head over heels for her,_ the red-head realized with a smirk.  _And based on the look she gave him before the Taffy vines started singing, she feels the same way about him._  A short while later, the group of four was flying the escape shuttle through the cotton candy clouds of Sugar Rush. Ienzo and Lea stood in the back while Calhoun sat in the pilot seat with Felix sitting in the corner to her right. They flew in silence until she noticed Felix with the same look on his face Lea had seen him with earlier.

"Your face is still red," she said bluntly. "You might want to hit it again with your hammer."

"Oh, that's not blunt force trauma ma'am," he replied. "That's just the honey-glow in my cheeks." The two former Organization members raised an eyebrow at the repairman's choice of euphemisms before he went on to tell her that she was a "dynamite gal." They both noticed when she stiffened up at his statement.  _That must have been what her dead fiancé called her,_ they both realized as she screamed before taking the shuttle down to the ground.  _And Felix accidentally caused her to have a flashback to that._

"Get out," she told the man.

"But all I said was…" he tried to figure out what was wrong.

"I said get out!" she snapped. As he climbed out the shuttle's open door, Lea jumped out as well.

"Someone's got to keep Fix-it over here out of trouble," he told Ienzo before the younger man could ask what he was doing. As the shuttle took off again to search for the Cy-Bug in the air, Felix and Lea walked towards the large castle nearby to inquire about Ralph's whereabouts.

* * *

#### Unknown World – Desert

#### July 19, 2015

S.H.I.E.L.D. Scientist Jemma Simmons ran like her life depended on it, which it did. They'd been running from Sephiroth for the last hour, and every time she thought about stopping, the fear of death (Combined with her two travelling companions periodically deflecting multi-colored flaming projectiles as the One-Winged Angel snapped at their heels) gave her the adrenaline boost needed to keep going. Terra had explained that they needed to put enough distance between them and Sephiorth that he couldn't follow them when they teleported off the planet. Which was why they were still racing through the desert in search a place safe enough for them to teleport from.

The long black coat Terra had given her weighed heavily on her body as the three fugitives darted across the landscape. Thanks to the assassin's superhuman speed, they had yet to actually make any progress. If anything, distance between them and him had actually thinned rather than widened. Mercifully, after another two hours of running, the managed to get enough of a lead on Sephiroth to crouch down behind a rock outcropping without being spotted. After peaking out to see if it was safe to use the portal, Terra nodded to Ludor, who quickly opened a swirling black and blue portal on the rock wall behind them. Without hesitating, the trio quickly dashed into the darkness and left the hellish planet behind.


	46. Turbo Flashback

#### Earth – Playground Laboratory

#### July 19, 2015

Simmons breathed a sigh of relief as she emerged from the "Corridor of Darkness" as Terra called it to find herself standing in the chamber that housed the monolith that had taken her to the other side of the universe just a few months ago. Quickly discarding the black coat, she took a moment to collect herself as the dark portal closed behind her. Terra and Ludor had fulfilled their promise to bring her home but were unable to actually follow her into the new S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters for fear of inviting Sephiroth to attack the facility in pursuit of his quarry. Mouthing a silent thank you to the two former Organization members, she cautiously edged over to the chamber that housed the Monolith, hoping to avoid getting sucked back to the other planet immediately after being returned to her own. Thankfully, the glass chamber had been sealed once more. She breathed a sigh of relief just as the door opened to reveal the man she thought she might never see again.

"Jemma?" Fitz dropped the box he'd been carrying in shock, but neither of them paid any attention to it. A thousand questions were running through his mind right now.  _Is it really you? How did you get back? What did the Monolith do to you?_ And she answered the first one with a single word.

"Fitz," she began, "I…" she never got to finish her sentence as the man she loved raced forward and gave her a long passionate kiss, right on the lips. After a minute, the two of them came up for air. And Simmons non-verbally admitted her feelings for Fitz by pulling him in and kissing him back. Their tender, emotional reunion was marred only when Lance Hunter walked into the room to find the two locked in a passionate embrace. Stunned to see Simmons back alive and well, the mercenary-turned-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent nevertheless bottled up the questions and excitement before silently slipping the two scientists a wad of cash with a note reading "Dinner's on me, lovebirds" attached. Fitz cried a silent tear of joy as he held Simmons in his arms. Explanations for how she got back could wait, he decided. Right now, all that matter was that she was alive, and she was home.

* * *

#### Game Central Station – Sugar Rush

#### July 20, 2015

"Come on, I know you're out there," Calhoun mumbled as she and Ienzo stalked through a field of red licorice in search of the rogue Cy-Bug. The arcade manager remained silent to focus his energy towards keeping a Reflega shield in place around the duo so that they wouldn't be eaten if the bug ambushed them. Grumbling about the sugar-saturated nightmare of Sugar Rush, Calhoun shook her static-filled tracker, only for the surrounding area to quickly turn green with Cy-Bug energy signatures. "But… where…?," she remarked, confused, before the ground gave way beneath them, sending them tumbling into the darkness below. They only survived by clinging to licorice vines dangling from the ceiling of the massive cavern they'd fallen into.

Unfortunately, as they clung to the rope, the tracking device slipped from the sergeant's hands and tumbled down to the cavern floor. The impact was immediately followed by a sickly green glow, revealing thousands and thousands of Cy-Bug eggs coating the cavern floor as dozens of candy-coated monstrosities scurried about as the glow of hatching eggs began to spread.  _It's like the Fall all over again,_ Ienzo thought to himself while mentally letting out a lengthy string of expletives in six different languages as he and the sergeant surveyed the nascent apocalypse preparing to explode into action beneath their feat. While the situation was too serious to laugh, he couldn't help but give a small smile at Calhoun's assessment of the impending anarchy as "doomsday and armageddon having a baby."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the castle where Felix and Lea had hopped off, the duo in question were currently sitting in a prison cell inside the palace dungeons. They'd arrived in search of a lead on Ralph's location only to be immediately thrown in jail. Lea had spent the last hour using his fire powers as a blow torch to melt through the bars, but had only succeeded in cutting his way through one bar. Felix had been lamenting his horrible treatment of Ralph the entire time, since despite his desire to help, Lea refused to let him put the magic hammer that fixed everything anywhere near the bars on the window. Before the fiery Key bearer to finish melting his way through the second bar, Wreck-it Ralph himself burst through the wall of the cell.

"Ralph!" Felix exclaimed joyfully. "I'm so glad to see you! I'm so sorry for how we've treated you all these years. I promise I'll make it up to you somehow."

"Thanks Felix," Ralph replied with a joyful tear welled up in his eye. "Right now, I need you to fix this go-kart for me, pronto. There's a little girl whose only hope of making her life better is this cart. Please, Felix, and I promise I'll never try to be good again." Felix didn't even need Ralph's promise. He immediately set to work on repairing the cart as Ralph explained how he'd met Vanellope Von Schweetz, and helped the young outcast, only to be tricked by King Candy into destroying the cart. Lea sympathized with the large man's guilt and frustration when he realized that everything he'd been told about Vanellope being a glitch was a lie, finishing with Sour Bill's confession that Vanellope crossing the finish line at the race that was about to start would reverse the megalomaniacal king's tampering with the game's code. Within minutes, Ralph was pushing the newly restored racecar through the newly destroyed door to Vanellope's new cell in the Fungeon (Lea cringed at the king's pathetic attempt at wordplay).

"I know, I know, I know," Ralph said sadly before Vanellope could say anything. "I'm an idiot."

"And?" the young girl offered drolly.

"And a real numskull," Ralph added apologetically.

"And?" she offered again.

"And a selfish diaper baby," Ralph continued exasperatedly.

"And?" Vanellope asked one more time.  _I like this kid already,_ Lea chuckled to himself from where he stood guard in the hallway.

"And… a stink brain," Ralph finished with a smile.

"The stinkiest brain ever," the little girl replied happily.

By the time they reached the starting line, the race had already begun, but it wasn't too late for Vanellope to catch up.

"Now remember," Ralph reminded her as they drove towards the starting position. "You don't have to win. You just need to cross that finish line and you'll be a real racer."

"I'm already a real racer," she replied confidently as the three hitchhikers jumped off the cart. "And I'm gonna win."  _Atta girl,_ Lea thought to himself as she raced ahead and crossed the starting line.

"KNOCK 'EM DEAD!" He shouted as the group watched the race on the jumbo-tron screens overhead. The red-haired man chuckled a bit when one of the racers got a power-up in the form of an ice-cream cone cannon that fired a scoop of vanilla that knocked the wheels off another car on impact. He, Felix and Ralph cheered as Vanellope quickly moved up the ranks. Within minutes, she had already reached seventh place. Not quite first, but a definite improvement over starting from sixteenth. The trio let out a round of applause as she used her "glitching ability" to deftly avoid a chain of cherry bombs and advance all the way to second place. Now it was between her and the nefarious King Candy.

"Okay, kid," Ralph said aloud. "Let's finish this thing without any more surprises." The instant he said that, Calhoun ran up and punched him in the face.

"Hope you're happy, junk pile," she snapped. "This game is going down and it's all your fault." After shutting down Felix's energetic hello, she continued. "That Cy-Bug you brought with you multiplied."

"No," the wrecker replied. "It died in the Taffy swamp. Believe me." And as soon as he said that, the swarm chose that exact moment to attack.

"You just had to say that, didn't you?" Ienzo butted in sarcastically as he prepped his spell-book for battle.

"Bullroar," Calhoun bluntly told Ralph before pulling out her gun and opening fire on the swarm as it emerged from a gaping hole in the ground directly behind the stadium grandstands. Lea and Ienzo immediately began firing combat spells at the onrushing horde.

"LISTEN UP, PEOPLE!" She shouted to the panicking crowd as she and the Cloaked Schemer hopped onto their hover-boards. "HEAD TO GAME CENTRAL STATION! NOW!" With that she continued barking orders to hurry the fleeing sentient candy along as she and the gamers resumed firing at the swarm of cybernetic Heartless (and Ienzo had a hard time seeing them as anything else). Lea fired spells and transformed Oath of Flame into dual handguns as he and Ralph struggled to stop the Cy-Bugs from consuming the Finish Line. As Lea and Ralph smashed at the monsters left and right, Felix pointed up to the viewing screen, which was now showing King Candy swinging his car's horn at Vanellope as he attempted to run the girl off the road.

"KID!" Ralph shouted as the duel went on. However, when Vanellope started glitching, something strange happened: King Candy started glitching as well. As the mad king began glitching, his appearance began to change to a form that Ralph and Felix instantly recognized.

"No way," Felix whispered in surprise.

"Is that…?" Ralph asked incredulously.  _Of course,_ Lea realized.  _It all makes sense now. Turbo survived the unplugging of his game, so he latched himself onto the next racing game he found and erased everyone's memories so that people would believe he'd always been in charge, usurping the world's original ruler in the process. Xehanort would love this guy._ Sure enough, the grey-skinned, jump-suited racer announced himself as Turbo, "the greatest racer ever" and declared that he would not allow Vanellope to undo all his hard work. The Flurry of Dancing Flames breathed a sigh of relief when the girl he now suspected was Sugar Rush's true ruler used her "glitch" to escape certain death at the hands of the furious Turbo. Considering the similarities to Xehanort, Lea didn't even flinch when the mad racer was eaten by a Cy-Bug that landed in front of the tunnel entrance just after Vanellope raced out. The cheering of the three watchers quickly died down as more and more Cy-Bugs burst out of the ground, knocking the little girl's cart off the road and sending her careening through the forest of lollipops along the side of the racetrack.

"KID!" Ralph shouted as he and Felix (Lea had run to help keep the Cy-Bugs away from the evacuees) raced over to where Vanellope had crashed. After assuring the two that she was alright, Ralph declared that they were leaving.

"But I didn't cross the finish line," she protested as Ralph picked her up.

"There is no finish line," the giant replied sadly as the monstrous bugs descended on the finish line, toppling the glittering banner to the ground as they swarmed across the racetrack.

"MOVE IT OR LOSE IT, PEOPLE! COME ON! EVERYBODY OUT! NOW!" Calhoun shouted as she fired her laser rifle at the approaching Cy-Bugs. Ienzo fired Blizzaga, Stopga, and Zero Graviga spells from his hover-board while on the ground, Lea cut through the digital monsters left and right with his Keyblade in the hopes of slowing the cybernetic horde's advance while the civilians evacuated (Ralph and Vanellope included). A few minutes later, the three warriors (and Felix) raced up the bridge.

"Alright," Calhoun announced when they reached the entrance to the train station. "That's everyone. Now we've gotta blow this exit." Ienzo's heart went out to Vanellope as the little girl told Ralph to go without her, mentally crying that a young child, video-game character or otherwise, would ever have to say those words to anyone.

"What about this game?" Felix asked sadly as they all looked out at the destruction the Cy-Bugs were wreaking on the candy-coated land below. Tears welled up in the two former Organization members' eyes as they were uncomfortably reminded of the Fall of Radiant Garden.

"Nothing we can do about it," Calhoun answered bitterly. "Without a beacon, there's no way to stop these monsters." Suddenly, Ralph raced forward and jumped onto Calhoun's cruiser.

"I've got some wrecking to do!" he shouted as he flew off toward the mountain in the distance. "I'll meet you at the finish line!"

"Fix-it, get behind us!" Calhoun interrupted as she stepped back and opened fire at the sugar-coated Cy-Bugs that were now marching up the rainbow bridge. Seconds later, Ienzo and Lea stepped back and resumed their spellcasting as Felix held Vanellope back and stepped out of the line of fire.

"What's he doing in that mountain!?" Lea wondered aloud!"

"There's a whole cluster of Mentos in Diet Cola Mountain!" Vanellope explained as she realized Ralph's plan. "He's gonna make them all fall into the boiling hot Cola in order to create a beacon. But it he does that…"

"He won't survive the Cola, will he?" Lea asked as he froze another Cy-Bug. Wordlessly, he nodded to Ienzo and the two Organization members jumped onto Ienzo's cruiser and flew off towards the mountain. They arrived just as Ralph prepared to strike the final blow, running over to him so they could drag him away from the eruption in time, but as he swung, a Cy-Bug tail lashed out and knocked the three of them into into the caldera wall.

"Welcome to the Boss Level!" a familiar voice announced, as the three of them stood and faced a large Cy-Bug with the face, characteristics, voice, and personality of Turbo. "Because of you, Ralph," he continued. "I am now the most powerful virus in the arcade. I can take over any game I want. I should thank you. But… It'd be more fun to kill you." With that, the Bug King lunged at the three bad guys. With a nod to confirm the plan, Lea and Ienzo darted forward and started jumping all over the monstrous former king. Lea slashed at his back with his Keyblade while Ienzo cast spells at Turbo's legs. After a semi-lengthy battle, Turbo grabbed Ralph by the legs and dragged him high up into the air. Lea and Ienzo tried to knock him down with Blizzara, Aerora, even Gravira, but the insectoid monarch was too high up for their spells to reach him as he toyed with Ralph in his claws. Suddenly, Ralph broke free of King Candy's claws and dove back down towards the ground. Ienzo was about to cast an Aero spell to slow his fall when he saw the giant's outstretched fist.  _Oh shit,_ Ienzo cursed to himself as Ralph dove down towards the soda volcano.

"We need to get out of here. Now," he voiced his realization aloud. Lea nodded, and the two broke into a run across the Mentos caldera. With a running jump the two former Nobodies cleared the lip of the volcano a fraction of a second before Ralph's fist truck the center of the crater, sending Mentos cascading down into the hot soda below. The shockwave of Rlaph's impact send Lea and Ienzo tumbling down the mountain. The duo's hearts ached as they mourned Ralph's sacrifice once they'd reached the bottom of the mountain, only for their hopes to lift when they saw Vanellope racing towards the mountain on a previously abandoned racecar. The two of them cheered as the racecar flew out of the side of the mountain with Ralph clinging to the front.

They cheered even louder when the volcano erupted. While the light from the burning hot soda was so bright they had to shield their eyes, they could still tell that it was working. The light from the eruption was drawing the Cy-Bugs toward it like moths to an open flame. From all over this game world they flocked to the volcano to be burnt to death by the hot Cola. The two couldn't help but applaud before breathing massive sighs of relief. Helping to save a world from destruction actually helped Ienzo feel a little better about his actions before and during the Fall. What he'd done was still horrible, but by helping to save the arcade from the Cy-Bugs as the Key bearers did in the real world from the Heartless, now he was finally starting to forgive himself.

Shortly afterwards, Felix finished fixing the finish line, and Ralph rolled Vanellope across it in her custom-made cart. Suddenly, the finish line lit up like a Keyblade near a Keyhole, and Vanellope's cart began to glow.

"Hey, what's with all the magic sparkles!?" she asked as the aforementioned "magic sparkles" lifted her up into the air. As she twirled around in the air, her clothes changed into a magnificent white and pink dress. When she was lowered to the ground, a massive wave of healing radiated out from her, repairing all the damage the Cy-Bugs had done and undoing King Candy's alterations to the citizen's memories as the population of Sugar Rush came racing home along the rainbow bridge. Ienzo's theory was proven correct when a walking green gumball named Sour Bill (who was hilariously still attached to the lollipop tree Ralph had stuck him to earlier) announced Vanellope as the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush. Ienzo chuckled a bit at the restored princess's joking threat to execute her former bullies, before Calhoun announced that the arcade was about to open. Deciding to leave the gaming world from the same place they'd entered it from, Ienzo and Lea walked over to board the shuttle while Vanellope and Ralph said goodbye. Once they'd said goodbye, they flew the shuttle out of Sugar Rush and back to Niceland. Once Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun had returned to their respective games, Lea and Ienzo returned to the real world, but not before promising to come back and visit sometime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that I've had my little FitzSimmons reunion, that's it for Marvel Cinematic Universe worlds and characters outside of references and a quick trip to Jotunheim for Terra and Ludor. The FitzSimmons reunion will be expanded on in a future story in this series.


	47. Kingdom of Corona

#### Radiant Garden – Gummi Garage

#### July 21, 2015

"How'd they manage to damage their ship so easily?" Beck asked as he and Cid watched Sora, Donald, and Goofy fly off in their newly repaired Gummi Ship. The young mechanic had met the trio the previous day when their ship had been towed in by a flying boat whose captain sought to offer her services to the city government. Cid and Beck had spent the last eighteen hours taking apart and rebuilding the heroes' Gummi Ship, in which time Beck had gotten a comprehensive, hands-on education in Gummi engineering. The structure and consistency of the material fascinated the young mechanic, and as he worked on the ship he thought of potential applications for it in the virtual world of The Grid.

"Apparently they got caught in the shockwave of a supernova," Cid replied. Since the Grid didn't have stars, this unfortunately led to the user giving the program a crash course in astronomy so that Beck would know what he was talking about. As they talked, Cid looked at the cavernous underground hangar and marveled at how much had changed in the last few years. With the increase in travel between worlds thanks to the forming of the Coalition, Radiant Garden was getting more visitors than ever. As the astronomy lesson ended, the two mechanics went on to discuss the Coalition and why it had formed.

"So this guy wants to destroy every world there is just to see what'll happen?" Beck asked, horrified, as Cid finished explaining the threats of Xehanort and Maleficent. "Even CLU was never that horrible," he added, reflecting on how all of the dictator's atrocities paled in comparison to deliberately instigating the apocalypse. "Do we even stand a chance against him if he's so powerful?"

"Our chances against Xehanort are slimmer than our chances against Maleficent," Cid answered glumly. "But neither of them are immortal. They have weaknesses and flaws that can be exploited. We just need to figure out what they are."

* * *

#### Kingdom of Corona – The Tower

#### July 21, 2015

 _I wonder what kind of world this is,_ Sora thought to himself as he, Donald, and Goofy walked through the forest of this new world. Cassim's scouting reports indicated that there was something on this world that could allow Xehanort to revitalize his body. Realizing that with that kind of power, Xehanort would be practically immortal, the three heroes headed for the world Aladdin's father had indicated as fast as they could. Having beamed down from their Gummi Ship into the middle of a grassy field, the three heroes had been walking around for the last half-hour in search of civilization in the hopes of beginning their investigation. Eventually, they found a small tunnel that, after following it to the end, lead to a tall tower surrounded by water.

As they emerged from the tunnel and looked at the tower, a new breed of Heartless emerged from the shadows. The heroes quickly sprang into action. Sora started shooting Fire and Aero spells at the plant-like heartless as the small monsters launched a burst of dandelion seeds into the air, each one turning into an identical Heartless when it touched the ground. Sora quickly turned his Keyblade into a cannon and fired at a particularly large cluster of the miniature monsters before summoning an enchanted pirate ship that he used to pummel the ones nearest to him. Within a few minutes, the Heartless had been cleared out of the area, the three heroes walked around the base of the tower looking for an entrance when a voice called out.

"You coming blondie?" they heard the man ask. A minute later, the three heroes were stunned when a length of impossibly long blonde hair came tumbling out of the tower's one window, quickly followed by the girl whose head that impossibly long hair was attached to. She stopped for a minute just before she reached the group, as if reconsidering whether or not she was ready for this. After a moment of hesitation, she gingerly set her feet on the ground. When she and her companion noticed Sora and his friends, the trio walked over and introduced themselves. After exchanging introductions, the girl, Rapunzel, started singing.

"So what's going on with her?" Goofy asked as Rapunzel stopped singing and started switching moods every ten minutes.

"Apparently she's been cooped up in that tower her whole life because her mother is extremely overprotective and convinced that the entire world is out to get her," the man, Flynn Rider, explained. "I wandered into the tower by accident and we made a deal that I'd take her to see these floating lanterns that she keeps seeing in the sky every year in exchange for my stuff that she took when she freaked out and knocked me unconscious back in the tower."

"That's sad that she's never left her house before," Sora remarked as he sympathized with Rapunzel, her desire to see what's outside her home reminding him of Ariel and Riku wanting to see other worlds. A few hours later, Rapunzel was back to moping again.

"You know," Flynn said as he walked over to her. "I couldn't help but notice you're a little at war with yourself."

"What?" Rapunzel asked as she looked up from her disconsolate sobbing.

"Nah, I'm only picking up bits and pieces," Flynn went on. "Overprotective mother, forbidden road trip. I mean, this is serious stuff. But let me ease your conscience. This is part of growing up. A little rebellion, a little adventure, that's good. Healthy, even."

"You think?" Rapunzel asked with a giggle as Flynn shoved her chameleon friend Pascal off his shoulder.

"I know," the man replied. "You're way overthinking this. Trust me. Does your mother deserve this? No. Would this break her heart and crush her soul? Of course. But you've just got to do it."

"Isn't the whole break her heart bit a little too harsh, Flynn?" Sora asked, concerned with his nonchalance about the trip.

"You're right," Flynn answered before sadly deciding to let Rapunzel out of her deal. He explained that he'd take her back home, he'd get his stuff back, and she'd get back a mother-daughter relationship based on mutual trust and understanding.  _He's manipulating her,_ Donald thought to himself. Sora and Goofy's raised eyebrows confirmed that they were thinking the exact same thing. Fortunately, Rapunzel decided to see the journey through. As soon as she said this, however, she quickly hid behind Flynn when something rustled in the bushes.

"Is it ruffians!?" she gasped as she aimed her frying pan. "Thugs!? Have they come for me!?"  _Or what if it's Heartless?_ Goofy wondered as the rustling continued. Rapunzel frantically climbed onto her travelling companion's shoulders as an adorable rabbit emerged from the bush in question.

"Stay calm," Flynn remarked sarcastically. "It can probably smell fear."

"Oh, sorry," Rapunzel said as she realized the man was joking. "I guess I'm a bit jumpy," she added as she climbed down off his shoulder. As soon as she said that, however, more of the flower Heartless from before, as well as a few new breeds, materialized around them.

"What are these things!?" Flynn and Rapunzel both asked as more monsters surrounded them.

"We'll explain later," Sora called out as he, Donald, and Goofy prepped for battle. "Right now, you guys need to stay behind us. We've fought these things before. We'll take care of them." Without even waiting for an answer, the trio quickly launched into action. Sora swung his Keyblade left and right, Donald cast Fire and Aero spells to keep the dandelion Heartless from spawning more of itself, and Goofy threw his shield at the smaller ones to stop them from growing big enough to re-spawn. To everyone's surprise, Rapunzel got in on the action herself, throwing her hair around like a whip and smacking any monsters that came near her with her frying pan. Within a few minutes, the Heartless were eliminated. One explanation of what the Heartless were later, and Flynn led the quintet in search of a place to have lunch.

Meanwhile, back at the tower, Rapunzel's mother was frantic. She'd been walking through the forest to pick berries for Rapunzel's birthday cake when she'd found a palace horse wandering through the wilderness without a rider. Fearing for the girl's safety, she raced through the forest back to her home. When Rapunzel didn't answer her calls to let down her hair, Gothel tore open the hidden door at the base of the building. When she climbed up and started frantically shouting Rapunzel's name, she searched the entire house, only to discover, to her horror that Rapunzel was not there. As she sat on the floor in shock, she noticed out of the corner of her eye something gleaming underneath the bottom stair. She pulled up the board to find a satchel with a glittering tiara sticking out. Horrified, the deceptively young looking woman threw the accursed object across the room. Noticing a wanted poster for a thief named "Flynn Rider," in the bag, she immediately got up and retrieved a dagger she kept hidden for emergencies. But before she could head back out the door and track Rapunzel down, a familiar voice interrupted her.

"It's terrifying to lose your child, isn't it?" Maleficent said as she emerged from a Corridor of Darkness. "I can relate."

"She can't have gone too far," Gothel replied, barely even acknowledging the other woman's presence. "I'll have her back within a day."

"And once you have her back, what then?" the green-skinned fairy asked, her concerned tone masking her disgust with this woman for taking a child from their parents for the sake of maintaining her own youth.

"I told you before, my answer is no," the human woman snapped. "You cannot have my daughter's hair. Not for anything."

"You can't fool me with your masks," Maleficent retorted. "We both know she's not your daughter, nor do you care about her as anything more than a tool, no matter how good an actress you are to convince the girl otherwise." Although her demeanor maintained its usual calm, inside she was resisting the urge to incinerate this woman with a wave of her hand. All she wanted to do with the girl's hair was cut it, for two reasons. One, because Xehanort had already dispatched Heartless and Nobodies to this world to find the girl, hoping to use the healing power of her hair for the old man to rejuvenate his body. An asset as game-changing as Rapunzel's hair was too valuable to be allowed to fall into the Organization's hands. Two, because she wanted Gothel to suffer for what she'd done. Maleficent may be ruthless, manipulative, and occasionally self-centered, but kidnapping a child or harming them in any way, physically or emotionally, was one of two lines she refused to cross. She might be the self-proclaimed Mistress of All Evil, but she would never wish the pain she'd gone through on another parent. Which was why she'd approached Gothel with a deal, offering her a position of power in the sorceress's new empire in exchange for access to Rapunzel's hair, intending to twist the knife in by convincing Gothel to bring about her own punishment willingly, after which Maleficent would bring the girl home to her real family.

"Fine. Suit yourself," she told Gothel before she left through another Corridor.  _Time for Plan B,_ she thought to herself as she appeared again in the wilderness a few hundred yards away, where she instructed Hook and the waiting Leroys to find the girl and cut her hair while also killing every Heartless or Nobody they see on sight. Despite the apparent absurdity of the first part of her orders, the red aliens complied as they followed Rapunzel's trail into the forest.


	48. Waiting for the Lights

#### Corridors of Darkness

#### July 21, 2015

"Are we sure about this?" Terra asked as he and Ludor jogged through the Corridor of Darkness. The two fugitives had stopped to pay a visit to one of Luxord's old gambling buddies, a (to Terra's surprise) talking, centuries old Shar Pei who happened to owe the Gambler of Fate a lot of money. Ludor had cleared the magical dog's debt in exchange for a few capsules of Dreamshade for the duo to use in the event of capture. Both of them had deduced that Sephiroth had been ordered to bring them back to the Castle That Never Was alive, otherwise they'd already be dead, meaning that Xehanort still wanted to use the two of them as vessels. Neither wished to lose their bodies to that madman again, which was why they'd traded the dog's gambling debt for poison capsules, not intending to be brought back alive.

"It's either this or becoming vessels again," Ludor replied snappishly. "Don't worry, we're not going to use them now. As long as we can stay ahead of Sephiroth, the capsules will only be our last resort. But if we get caught, I'd rather end it now that lose myself to that madman again." Terra nodded in understanding as the two ran through the Darkness in search of a barren world for them to hide on. There was one obvious choice, but neither of them had any desire to set foot in the Keyblade Graveyard unless they had no other options. Right now their only options were the deserts of Agrabah, the open plains of the Empire of the Sun, the caverns of the Lost Empire, or the mountains of Arendelle. Eventually, they emerged from their Dark Corridor to find themselves in a frozen wasteland. Ruined fortresses and other buildings dotted the pockmarked landscape, and the place was devoid of any sign of life. The perfect place to hide from someone like Sephiroth without putting innocent lives at risk.

"Perfect," Terra declared as he and his partner jogged across the frozen tundra, hoping to get a head start before the One-Winged Angel finally showed.

* * *

#### Kingdom of Corona – The Snugly Duckling

#### July 21, 2015

 _Well this is unexpected,_ Sora thought to himself as he, Donald, and Goofy went on singing, ignoring Xion and Roxas' laughter ringing in his head, hoping that they weren't singing too. They'd walked into a tavern called the Snugly Duckling to get a place to eat, only for the five of them to be surrounded by the crowd. Apparently Flynn was a wanted thief, much to the trio's irritation, but Rapzunel convinced the assembled diners not to throw him in prison yet because she needed him to help her fulfill her dream. When she asked if everyone else there had a dream, they all started breaking out in song about what they're dreams were. But as the song ended, a patron who'd snuck out the back arrived with a squad of soldiers to have Rider arrested.

Flynn quickly dragged Rapunzel and the three heroes out of sight, where they hid under a table while the guards searched the diner. He panicked when he peaked out and noticed that the guards were accompanied by a pair of redheaded men in chains.  _Must be old enemies or accomplices, I guess,_ Sora speculated to himself. As they anxiously crouched beneath the table, Hook Hand beckoned them over to a hidden tunnel that would lead them out of the pub.

"Go," he said. "Live your dream."

"Thanks," Flynn replied. "I will."

"Your dream stinks," Hook Hand retorted as the off-worlders struggled not to laugh. "I was talking to her." Rapunzel quietly thanked the man as they crawled down into the tunnel while the rest of the pub thugs distracted the guards. As they walked through the secret tunnel, Flynn congratulated Rapunzel on her impressive handling of the situation back in the pub. Rapunzel attempted to ask about Flynn's backstory, but he shut her down. Sora, Donald, and Goofy on the other hand, openly told her about where they were from. They mentioned a little bit of why they were there, explaining that they were trying to stop evil monsters like the Heartless from getting their claws on magical artifacts. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, the five of them looked back to see a group of guards running towards them.

"RUN!" Flynn shouted as Sora helped Rapunzel pick of her extraordinarily long hair before they sprinted further down the tunnel with the soldiers in hot pursuit. They emerged from the tunnel onto a cliff at the base of a dam. As they looked down and spotted a tunnel on the other side of the canyon, they prepared to climb down the ladder that led to the bottom of the cliff when another boarded up tunnel nearby burst open to reveal the two red-heads from earlier, armed with swords.

"Who are they?" Rapunzel asked fearfully.

"They don't like me," their guide replied bluntly.

"Who's that?" she asked as the guards emerged from the tunnel with swords and spears drawn.

"They don't like me either," Flynn added. When she asked the same question when a white horse came out of the tunnel behind the guards, he just stopped her.

"Look," he said. "Let's just assume that everyone here doesn't like me."

"Considering you're a thief it's not hard to see why," Sora pipped up with a smirk. Before Flynn could come up with a witty response, Rapunzel handed him her frying pan and used her hair to swing across the ravine. As Heartless and Nobodies appeared along the canyon floor and began climbing up toward Rapunzel, Sora, Donald, and Goofy used Aero spells, a little parkour, and the train summon he'd learned earlier to attack the Heartless and make their way over to protect the young woman. Seeing the thief outnumbered, the guards attacked. With Rapunzel's frying pan, he was able to defeat the guards within a minute. Unfortunately, the horse proved to be a bit more of a challenge as it held a cutlass in its teeth.

"You should know," Flynn called as he dueled a horse with a frying pan. "That this is the strangest thing I've ever done."  _I've done stranger,_ Sora thought to himself as the horse knocked the frying pan out of the human's hands. Before the horse could do anything, Rapunzel used her hair again as a whip to drag Flynn over to their side of the canyon. When Flynn landed near the open tunnel, the horse started kicking at the wooden beams supporting the dam in order to create a bridge to cross with. While Donald, Goofy, and Sora slide down the wooden aqueduct sloping downwards, Rapunzel jumped off the ledge above seconds before the horse tried to grab her. Once the girl had swung safely to the ground, Flynn joined the Key bearer and his friends in riding the aqueduct downwards. Sora and his friends reached the ground first, but the aqueduct fell apart and collapsed before Flynn could reach the bottom. Fortunately, he jumped just in time and landed right behind Rapunzel as the quintet raced into the tunnel to escape the horse, the red-heads, the guards, and the onrushing water as the dam burst.

They made it inside just before a stone butte collapsed in front of where they'd been standing, blocking the tunnel entrance. But it wasn't blocked completely as water continued rushing into the small cave. The group raced away from the cave mouth only to discover the way ahead blocked.  _No,_ Sora panicked as he and Flynn dove under the water looking for a way out while Rapunzel and Goofy banged their frying pan and shield against the wall of rubble.  _I'm not going to die right when Kairi and I are finally together._ He winced when Flynn cut his hand while trying to push the blockage away.

"It's no use," Flynn said as he came up one last time. "I can't see anything." When Rapunzel tried to dive down herself, he pulled her back up. "It's no use," he added sadly. "It's pitch black down there."

"There's gotta be another way," Sora whispered. "I need to get back to Kairi. I have to."

"This is all my fault," Rapunzel sobbed as the five of them sat against the wall as the water rose around them. "She was right, I never should have done this. I'm so sorry, Flynn."

"Eugene," Flynn said after taking a deep breath. "My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert. Someone might as well know."

"I have magic hair that glows when I sing," Rapunzel admitted with a giggle, figuring that if they were all going to share their dying confessions, she might as well go next.  _Wait. What?_ Sora and his two friends all thought as they turned their heads in the girl's direction.  _Then that means she can get us out of here._ Clearly Rapunzel realized it too, as when Flynn expressed incredulous disbelief at her statement, she started singing just as the water rose up over their heads. For a moment, they all held their breaths as they floated in the pitch black water. Then, the darkness faded away as Rapunzel's hair did indeed begin to glow. As her hair started to get sucked into a small gap between two of the rocks in the wall of rubble blocking their exit, Eugene, Sora, and Goofy raced over and quickly started digging. After removing a few stones, Eugene's hand broke through the wall of rocks and reached open air. With enough rocks removed, the flow of water pushed the remaining rocks out along with the cave's occupants.

Everyone gasped for breath as they pulled themselves up onto the riverbank. Rapunzel started cheering about being alive while Donald and Goofy helped the thief from the water as he stuttered about glowing hair. The three heroes shrugged. They had seen far stranger things than glowing magic hair, but when Rapunzel announced to Eugene that her hair didn't just glow, the trio were a little curious to see what she was talking about. An hour later, the sun had set and Rapunzel was wrapping her hair around her guide's hand.

"So," he began. "You're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your hair around my injured hand." Off to the side, Sora and Donald were having a bet over what else her hair could do, with Sora betting 500 Munny on healing powers, and Donald putting 1,000 on rewinding time, arguing that with Xehanort's obsession with time travel, "why else would he send the Heartless and Nobodies after the girl?" The Duo fell silent as Rapunzel began to sing, her glowing all the way.

**_"_ ** **_Flower gleam and glow,"_ **

**_"_ ** **_Let your power shine,"_ **

**_"_ ** **_Make the clock reverse,"_ **

**_"_ ** **_Return what once was mine,"_ **

**_"_ ** **_Heal what has been hurt,"_ **

**_"_ ** **_Change the fates design,"_ **

**_"_ ** **_Save what has been lost,"_ **

**_"_ ** **_Return what once was mine,"_ **

**_"_ ** **_What once was mine."_ **

As she finished the song, her hair's glow faded. Eugene unwrapped the hair from his hand and was shocked to discover that the cut in his hand had been completely healed.  _Her healing power is what Xehanort is after,_ Sora realized as Donald forked over a thousand Munny.  _The reason her hair is so long must be because cutting it weakens her powers._

"Mother says when I was a baby people tried to cut it," Rapunzel explained when Eugene asked how long her hair had possessed this ability, and she'd told him forever. "They wanted to take it for themselves," she continued as she pulled back her hair to reveal a patch of brown. "But once it's cut, it turns brown and loses its power. A gift like that, it has to be protected. That's why mother never let me… why I never left…" Sora's heart went out to the poor girl, her experience reminding him of what Lea had told him about Queen Elsa of Arendelle when they'd run into him in Radiant Garden while their Gummi Ship was being repaired, and how she'd shut herself off from the world because she was afraid her ice magic would hurt people by accident.

"Never left that tower?" Eugene finished with a concerned look on his face. Rapunzel nodded.

"And you're still gonna go back?" Goofy asked. "Your powers may make a lot of people envious of you, but you're eighteen, right? One of the things I learned as a parent is that sooner or later a kid reaches the point in their life where they need to make their own decisions. Do you really want to be cooped up there the rest of your life?"

"No…" Rapunzel answered half-heartedly. "Yes… It's complicated." She put her head in her hands, unsure about what to do. After everyone discussed Goofy's experiences parenting his son Max, Rapunzel turned to grilling Eugene Fitzherbert about his own backstory.

"I'll spare you the sob story of poor orphan Eugene Fitzherbert," he replied. "It's a little bit of a downer." When Rapunzel slid closer to him expectantly, accompanied by a few knowingly raised eyebrows from the off-worlders, he relented and continued. "There was this book. A book I used to read every night to all the younger kids. "The Tales of Flynnigan Rider." Swashbuckling rogue, richest man alive, not bad with the ladies either, not that he'd ever brag about it of course."

"Was he a thief, too?" Rapunzel asked curiously. Over on the side, the other three travelers had started up another bet, this time on how long it would take Eugene and Rapunzel to get together.

"Well… No," Eugene replied. "Actually, he had enough money that he could do anything he wanted to do, go anywhere he wanted to go. And, well, for a kid with nothing, I don't know, it just seemed like the better option. You guys can't tell anyone about this okay? It could ruin my whole reputation."

"We wouldn't want that then," Rapunzel promised with a warm smile.

"Yeah," Eugene replied mirthfully. "After all, a fake reputation is all a man has."  _They're totally falling for each other,_ Sora thought as the two shared a quiet moment before Eugene awkwardly excused himself to join Donald and Goofy in gathering firewood while Sora stayed behind to patrol the perimeter of their makeshift camp for Nobodies, Heartless, or Maleficent's agents. He'd spotted a few of the red Stitches back at the dam, meaning that Maleficent had heard of Rapunzel's magic hair as well.  _We won't let them get to her,_ Sora silently resolved as he walked through the woods, always staying within earshot of the campfire.  _But I'm surprised that she hasn't already tried cutting her hair so she can go out and have a normal life. There's something off about that. I just can't figure out what it is yet._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dreamshade was pulled from Once Upon A Time


	49. Realization and Escape

#### Kingdom of Corona – Docks

#### July 22, 2015

 _This was fun, today,_ Sora thought to himself as he, Donald, and Goofy stood on the pier with Pascal and the horse, Maximus, while Rapunzel and Eugeine rowed a boat out into the lake to watch the floating lanterns up close. Maximus had caught up with them that morning, but Rapunzel had managed to convince him not to drag their criminal companion off to prison until after her birthday was over. The group had a fantastic time as they arrived in the city nearby in time for what was apparently an annual festival. There'd been food, dancing, painting. Rapunzel even had her hair braided and plaited so that she wouldn't have to carry it around everywhere. The only dark note was when Sora overheard the mention of something being for "the lost princess."

While Rapunzel and Eugene watched the lanterns float into the sky together, the others waited over by the shore outside the city gates. As they sat and waited, the three who could talk were comparing notes about Rapunzel's hair and what Xehanort and Maleficent were after. Sora brought up his suspicions about there being more to why Rapunzel was never allowed to leave the tower, and the story he'd heard about the lost princess that he'd heard when he'd asked a few townspeople about it. Donald and Goofy agreed that while they had no definitive proof, there was a strong possibility that Rapunzel was indeed this lost princess. The fact that her birthday was on the same day as the festival held for the lost princess's birthday only added to the theory. They'd have to talk to Rapunzel about it and hopefully get a chance to meet her "mother."

As they held their breaths in anticipation as they watched Eugene and Rapunzel about to kiss through the telescope they'd bought in town, Eugene paused and looked behind the boat. Sora turned the spyglass in the direction the thief was looking in to see the two red-heads he'd referred to as the Stabbington Brothers glaring menacingly at the man as they stood on the shore with a green lantern.  _They must think that he still has whatever it is he stole that Rapunzel hid,_ Sora realized as he told Donald, Goofy, Maximus and Pascal what he'd seen. As the two lovebirds (and while the two may deny it the three-off worlders knew it when they saw it) rowed to shore, Sora, Donald, and Goofy told Rapunzel what they'd seen, and Rapunzel told them what she'd done as well. Apparently she'd kept Eugene's satchel hidden with her the whole time, and she'd given it back as a gesture of trust. After Eugene explained that he was going to give the Stabbington Brothers the loot and apologize for backstabbing them, Sora insisted on accompanying the man while Donald and Goofy stayed with Maximus to guard Rapunzel.

Sora stayed behind in the bushes as Eugen slipped back into his Flynn Rider persona and nonchalantly gave them the tiara hidden in the bag while apologizing for his betrayal. But to the thief and the Keyblade Master's collective horror, they didn't want the crown. They wanted Rapunzel.  _But the only way they'd be able to know about her hair when her mother wouldn't let her leave the tower is if…_ Sora thought as he raced to process everything and the brothers carried Eugene over to a boat tied up nearby.  _Her "mother" told them about Rapunzel's hair so she can rescue her from them and manipulate her into coming back of her own free will. Either her mother is extremely overprotective, or Rapunzel really is the lost princess, and my Munny's on the latter._ With a shout, he raced over and cast a Thundara spell on the brother carrying Eugene before he began dueling the other one. After a few minutes of back and forth, that guy ran off to try and nab, freeing Sora to focus on the one carrying the former thief. He wasn't worried about her. Donald and Goofy would be able to take care of that brother. Right now he needed to make sure that Eugene didn't get shipped across the lake to prison.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rapunzel was waiting on the beach near the boat when she saw a shadow coming towards her.

"There you are," she said. "I was beginning to think you'd ran off with the crown and left me." To her horror however, as the figure approached, one shadow morphed into two, as the Stabbington brothers walked towards Rapunzel.

"He did," the one without the eyepatch said. When Rapunzel denied this, the two thugs gestured across the lake at a boat sailing back towards the city.

"EUGENE!" She shouted sadly.  _Where are Donald and Goofy? Where's Sora?_ She wondered as the brothers explained that he'd traded her for the crown to get them off his back. When the two tried to stuff her into a sack, she ran for her life. She panicked when her hair got caught on a rock, only to be confused when she heard what sounded like the two men being beaten up, followed by her mother calling out for her.  _But is she really my mother though?_ She wondered as she walked cautiously towards the sound of the older woman's voice. Donald and Goofy had explained their theory to her, but while she still felt like all the evidence that pointed to her being the lost princess was just a coincidence, a part of her was doubtful.  _Well,_ she thought as she walked into the clearing to find the two brothers knocked out with her mom standing over them with a club,  _there's only one way to find out._

"Are you alright?" her mother asked as Rapunzel pushed those thoughts aside as she raced forward and hugged her mother, relieved that she was safe from the two Stabbington brothers, only for those doubts to rise up again when she noticed Donald and Goofy lying unconscious at the edge of the forest. "Are you hurt?"

"Mother…" she began. "How did you?"

"I was so worried about you that I followed you," Gothel explained. "Then I saw them attack you, and I… Let's go, let's go, before they come to."

"But wait," Rapunzel interrupted, pointing at Donald and Goofy. "Why did you attack  _them_? They didn't try to attack me. They're my friends."

"They were going to betray you and cut your hair," the older woman explained.

"No," Rapunzel retorted. "Eugene may have betrayed me, but Donald and Goofy would never do that. They're too nice to do anything like that." Suddenly, two familiar voices rang out through the night.

"RAPUNZEL! WAIT!" She heard Eugene shout as he turned in his direction.

"IT'S A TRAP!" Sora shouted as the two raced into view.

"Get away from my daughter!" Gothel shouted as she put herself between Rapunzel and the others. Suddenly, a voice familiar only to four out of those assembled rang out.

"Must you maintain your charade even as the threads unravel?" Maleficent asked as she stepped menacingly out of the forest. "Almost everyone here has already figured out she isn't really your daughter." Amid demands by the three interstellar travelers to know what she was doing there, Rapunzel voiced what they were all thinking.

"I am the lost princess. Aren't I?" Maleficent grinned in satisfaction, knowing she didn't need to say anything. The look of fear and anger on Gothel's face was all the answer anybody needed. Her attempt to deny it by asking why Rapunzel would say such ridiculous things only dug herself deeper.

"It was you!" Rapunzel shouted. "I spent my entire life hiding from people who would use my power, when I should have been hiding from you! You were wrong about the world! You were wrong about me! And I will never let you use my hair again!" While her outburst might have seemed sudden and angry, the conversation with Donald and Goofy had helped her to prepare for the moment when she found out the truth, and now she was letting it all out. Donald and Goofy heard everything as they regained consciousness and quickly froze the Stabbington Brothers to keep them from interfering.

"You want me to be the bad guy then?" Gothel growled menacingly as she advanced towards the group. "Fine, then I'M THE BAD GUY!" As she walked towards Rapunzel, dark whips of smoke curled around her feet, causing a powerful Heartless to form. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were torn. On the one hand, they need to stop that Heartless before it could attack the city, but on the other, they couldn't leave Rapunzel and Eugene unarmed against Gothel as she advanced on the golden-haired girl with a dagger in hand. Suddenly, a wall of green fire appeared between Gothel and Rapunzel, making that decision for them.

"Go," Maleficent commanded as she walked towards Gothel. "I'll handle this."

"We don't take orders from you," Sora retorted, angry that she expected them to just let her take Rapunzel.

"I am not interested in the hair," the dark fairy snapped. "Mr. Goofy, you of all people should understand the lengths to which a parent will go to protect a child, whether it's their own or not. Now go!" Surprisingly, Goofy nodded and led Sora and Donald into the trees to fight the Heartless.

* * *

"What was that all about, Goofy?" Sora asked as they dove beneath the giant monster's long legs. "How could you tell Maleficent was being sincere? How do we know she won't try to take Rapunzel later?"

"Because," Goofy answered as he blocked a fireball launched from the beast's mouth. "I know that look she had on her face. I've seen it in the mirror whenever Maxie gets in trouble. It's the look of a parent who will do whatever it takes to protect a child, whether it's their own or someone else's. Maleficent used to be a mother once. It easy to recognize a fellow parent. And I'm willing to bet that losing her kid was what made her the way she is today." As they finished fighting the Heartless, Sora realized what exactly Maleficent was planning: to cut Rapunzel's hair so that Gothel wouldn't be able to use it anymore, and Rapunzel could go and meet her real parents. Once they finished off the Heartless, they raced back to the clearing to find Eugene lying on the ground with a stab wound while Maleficent lifted Gothel up by the neck with one hand and conjuring a fireball in the other. Sora quickly cast a Curaga spell on Eugene before Rapunzel could kneel and sing her healing incantation. Rapunzel kissed Eugene as she helped him off the ground, while Maleficent extinguished her fireball, grabbed Gothel's knife, and cut the girl's hair.

"NO!" Gothel shouted as Rapunzel's golden hair quickly turned brown, and the woman frantically tried to grab clumps of hair before the healing power faded. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" she screamed as her skin began to wrinkle and her hair turned from black to white. As the woman continued to wither and age, Pascal pulled on a section of hair and caused the ancient woman to trip backwards. As she fell her centuries of abusing the healing power of the magic flower that Rapunzel's power originated from finally caught up with her, and she turned to dust before she hit the ground. Rapunzel reached out her arms, sadly. Emotionally abusive she might have been, Gothel had still raised her, and her sudden death shocked the eighteen-year-old. As Eugene and Goofy talked to Rapunzel to help her work through the shock and confusion of it all, Sora noticed Maleficent walking off into the trees.

"You were a parent once, weren't you?" he asked as before she could conjure a Dark Corridor and leave. "Goofy figured it out." Mentally cursing at herself for letting her mask slip, Maleficent took a deep breath.

"I was," the dark sorceress replied, "until Aurora's father sacrificed the life of my infant son to save his newborn daughter. I may be the Mistress of All Evil but I am not so cruel that I would force fellow parents to share my pain." With that, she disappeared in a green flash. Sympathizing with the fairy, Sora made his way back to the group. They helped Rapunzel start working through the trauma of her whole life with Gothel being a lie until the sun began to climb into the sky. As the sun rose, Rapunzel ultimately decided that it was time for her to meet her real parents.

* * *

#### Kingdom of Corona – Palace Gates

#### July 23, 2015

Sora, Donald, and Goofy smiled as they stood on the sidelines watching Rapunzel reunite with her parents. Even more so when Eugene was pulled into the group hug. Before the celebrations could begin, the three off-worlders met with the king and queen of Corona and gave them the whole Coalition recruitment speech. They thanked them profusely for helping their daughter and gladly pledged their support in the fight against Xehanort. Because they needed to hurry to their next destination, they couldn't stick around for the festivities, but they manage to say goodbye to Rapunzel and Eugene before they left, promising to come to the inevitable wedding if time permitted (and if they weren't busy fighting bad guys). As they boarded their Gummi Ship, Sora caught sight of a familiar, green-skinned figure dressed in black looking down on the celebration of the princess's return with what appeared to be the ghost of a smile on her face.


	50. The Lost Empire

#### Earth – Atlantean Capital

#### 6002 B.C.

 **"** **Your majesty,"** Kashekim Nedakh, king of Atlantis, looked up to the sound of the guard's voice. After acknowledging the man's presence, the guard continued.  **"You have a visitor. Foreteller Vulpeus is here to see you."**

 **"** **Send her in, then,"** the king replied with a nostalgic smile. Master Ava hadn't visited Atlantis since the demons invaded the World, and she was called away to lead her Union in the fight against these monsters. At twenty-five, she was perhaps one of the youngest Keyblade Masters in history, having achieved the rank when she was only twenty-one. Since she began her training under The Grand Master at the age of sixteen, the Foreteller had become like a second daughter to the Atlantean king and queen, and his young daughter Kidagakash saw her as an older sister. Unfortunately, considering the state of the world now, her visit in the middle of the conflict with the dark monsters that plagued the land did not bode well for his people. Nevertheless, he still smiled when she walked in.

 **"** **Your Majesty,"** she began.  **"Thank you for agreeing to speak with me on such short notice."** Kashekim chuckled.

 **"** **No need to be so formal, my dear,"** the king replied warmly as he walked over and hugged the young Keyblade Master.  **"You are practically family, and you are always welcome here. I only wish your visit did not have to happen under such troubling circumstances."**

 **"** **I agree,"** Ava replied sadly.  **"Which is why I unfortunately have to get to the point of why I'm here. The unions are on the brink of war. None of the other Foretellers can come to an agreement on what to do and we spend more time squabbling with each other than we do fighting those monsters. The only reason we haven't gone for each other's throats yet is because I hold enough influence to keep everyone in check. They all respect me too much to defy me, which is why we're going to hold a peace summit, in the hopes of coming up with a solution that benefits everyone."**

 **"** **And you would like Atlantis to host the meeting,"** Kashekim finished,  **"when you know I wish to keep my kingdom out of the conflict."**

 **"** **I know,"** Ava replied sadly.  **"And I'm sorry I have to ask you, but Daybreak Town is too much of powder keg to be considered neutral territory and you are the only one I trust besides Triton to be an impartial arbitrator. Unicornis has set up an outpost in Twilight Town, Urusus has established an auxiliary base in a castle in some kingdom, Anguis and Leopardos are feuding over control of Daybreak Town's clock tower… If we don't find a unified solution soon, millions of people are going to die. I know you want Atlantis not to get involved, but… I didn't know where else to turn."** The king of Atlantis gave the young Keyblade Master another hug as she started to cry from all the pressure and stress she was clearly under.

 **"** **It's alright,"** he replied kindly.  **"I understand, child. I do not want my kingdom to become involved in the conflict, but I will make an exception for you, Ava. You are like a second daughter to me, and I will always help you in any way I can. But I will be preparing precautionary measures in the event that the summit turns sour."**

 **"** **Thank you,"** she said as she dried her eyes.  **"I'll have to get back to Daybreak Town soon and finish making preparations for the summit. Thank you so much."**

 **"** **You're welcome, my dear,"** Kashekim replied.  **"Kidagakash will be thrilled to see you again. Good luck with your preparations. I hope this summit will bear fruit."**

 **"** **I hope so too,"** Ava remarked as she prepared to return to Daybreak Town.  **"I'll see you in a few days. Tell the queen I stopped by."**

 **"** **I will,"** the Atlantean king replied as the Foreteller of the Vulpeus union walked out of his throne room. As she left, an intense feeling of foreboding came over him, as if trying to warn him that something terrible was about to happen. Dismissing it as just being nervous about the upcoming summit, he returned his focus to the guards as they announced that the commander of the Atlantean armada was there to report on the status of the recent construction for the war fleet.  _I love Ava like a daughter,_ he thought to himself,  _but without the weapons I've had my people create from the Crystal, we will not stand a chance against Keyblade Wielders should fighting break out between the unions. Even if the negotiations succeed, Atlantis needs to be ready to defend itself in the next conflict._

* * *

#### The Lost Empire – Ulysses Bridge

#### July 20, 2015

The blaring klaxons jolted Kairi back to reality. She quickly blinked to clear her head of the confusing vision and remember what it was she was doing here. She and Riku had arrived on this world at Aqua's instruction to meet with an old friend of Master Eraqus, a millionare named Preston Whitmore. Initially, their objective was to acquire some of the advanced technology Whitmore developed for the Coalition. But when they arrived, and the eccentric industrialist had told them of his planned expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis, something deep down in her heart told Kairi that she needed to go on that expedition. After a lot of convincing, Riku had agreed, and they'd joined the crew of the Ulysses.

So the next day, she and Riku boarded the submarine alongside linguist and fellow newcomer Milo Thatch. A few hours after the launch, they'd reconnected on the bridge after putting their bags in their bunks. Neither of them had brought anything with them beyond toiletries, preferring to leave their personal belongings in the Gummi Ship. Anyway, on the bridge, she'd hit it off with the ship's lead engineer Audrey Ramirez while Riku stood off on his own. A few minutes later, Milo walked onto the bridge to give a presentation to the expedition's leadership about what they were looking for on this trip. She chuckled at the crew's commentary as Milo fumbled his way through the explanation of the Leviathan. She felt a strange unease when the linguist dismissed it as just being a sculpture.  _It's probably a real animal,_ she'd thought to herself, that feeling of unease only amplified when they discovered the graveyard of sunken ships.

The communications officer, Mrs. Packard, playing an ominous moaning sound over the ship's sonar was the final straw. Immediately after sharing her suspicions with Commander Rourke, he ordered the helmsman to tighten their search pattern and find the thing. And that was when the beast attacked. When the monstrosity grabbed the submarine in its claws, Milo and Kairi fell against the glass of the bridge's observation bubble, she fell into a daze while Milo exclaimed that the Leviathan of legend was a machine. Rourke shouting over the intercom to launch sub-pops snapped her back to the present as she raced over and helped Milo back onto the deck.

"We're free!" Rourke shouted as torpedo from the sub-pods stunned the beast long enough for it to release the submarine from its death grip. "All ahead full!" Riku grabbed Kairi's arm as the Ulysses shook from the impact of a laser fired from the mechanical monster's mouth. A minute later, Audrey's voice came over the ship's radio warning Rourke that the ship was taking on water and they had twenty minutes before it reached the sub's boiler. An explosion could be heard on the other end of the line before the sixteen-year old engineer quickly changed her answer from twenty minutes to five. As soon as he heard that, Rourke ordered everyone to abandon ship.

"MOVE IT, PEOPLE!" Rourke's second-in-command, a woman named Helga Sinclair, shouted as she held open an escape capsule while Riku, Kairi, Milo, Rourke, Audrey, medical officer Joshua Sweet, geologist Mole, chef Cookie, Mrs. Packard, demolitions expert Vinnie, and a few dozen other crewmembers scrambled into the mini-sub. "SOMETIME TODAY WOULD BE NICE! COME ON! EVERYBODY GRAB A SEAT AND BUCKLE IN!" The mini-sub launched out of the ship seconds before the Leviathan destroyed the Ulysses in a massive explosion. After a harrowing chase that resulted in the destruction of five of the seven escape vehicles, the group finally emerged into the air pocket Milo had described in his presentation.

After a few hours of unloading vehicles and equipment from the mini-sub to traverse the ancient highway leading to the ruins of Atlantis, Rourke gave a short but heartfelt eulogy for the poor souls lost in the attack. After the brief funeral was concluded, everyone piled into the vehicles and set off along the ancient tunnel leading to the ruins of this lost civilization. As they drove through the tunnels, she shared with Riku her strange desire to know more about Atlantis. He told her that he wasn't upset about delaying their departure from this world, but they would need to figure out how to get back to the Gummi Ship, since the teleportation beam didn't reach underground.

"Just be glad your boyfriend isn't here," he teased. "Sora would've jumped right into this thing even faster than you without a second thought."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason I'm having everyone in the flashback scene speak Atlantean is because the movie basically treats the Atlantean language as the root of all modern languages, so I decided to take that and run with it. Therefore, all the Keyblade War flashbacks have everyone speaking Atlantean. Other information on little details in the Atlantis movie like the king's name came from the Disney Wikia and backed up by other sources.


	51. The Crystal Chamber

#### Earth – Atlantean Capital

#### 6,002 B.C.

_This is a madhouse,_ Ephemer thought as he looked out at the assembled Keyblade Wielders seated at the table in the Atlantean throne room. On one side of the large table sat the five Foretellers of the Keyblade Unions, and on the other sat King Kashekim of Atlantis who was there to mediate the summit. Ephemer shuddered as he looked around the room, thinking  _one of the other four is a traitor._ The sixth Foreteller had held him captive for weeks, and during his captivity the man had let slip that one of the Union leaders was in cahoots with him. He knew Ava was above suspicion, and considering her absolute belief in the light, it was unlikely that Angus could be the traitor either. Unicornis was all about balance and compromise, so that left Leopardos and Ursus as the two most likely suspects. The young man's attention returned to the meeting as King Kashekim concluded his speech outlining the rules of the summit. No fighting on Atlantean soil, each Foreteller was only allowed to have two escorts, no armies or ships were permitted within two-hundred miles of Atlantean shores, the usual stuff. As the speech concluded, Ava stood and got right to the point.

**"** **I found the traitor,"** she said bluntly.

**"** **Preposterous,"** Leopardos retorted.  **"I don't believe there exists one among us. How can you be so sure one even exists?"**

**"** **Because Ephemer was held captive by the Outcast for weeks,"** Ava answered firmly.  **"And he heard a few interesting things. We all know that our books are missing part of the story: the Lost Page. When he escaped from captivity, Ephemer told me that the Outcast mentioned that his accomplice's book** ** _had_** **the Lost Page."**

**"** **This is ridiculous,"** Unicornis said as he stood up.  **"He's not even in your union. Besides, are we all going to turn against one another over who may or may not have the Lost Page?"**

**"** **On the last page of our books, it's written on that page that one will betray all,"** Anguis replied.  **"The solution is simple. We all brought our Books of Prophecy. Only the traitor's copy has the Lost Page, so we each open our books to the last page. Everyone except the traitor will have the same ending."** As the other Fortellers began arguing about whether or not to go through with this course of action, Ephemer glanced to his right from his post behind the Ursus Foreteller to see his friend Emma standing next to the Leopards foreteller. While she was hopelessly naive at times, she was still one of the best warriors he'd ever met, which was part of why he'd had a not-so-secret crush on her for a while.

However lately they had been arguing about her belief that it was possible for someone to contain the darkness and use it for good. A Guardian who would hold the eldritch forces of the universe at bay to defend the light. It was doomed to failure. He'd seen what trying to hold the darkness at bay had done to the Grand Master during his time in captivity. Apparently the Grand Master of the Foretellers attempted to use the X – Blade as the keystone of a barrier to hold the darkness at bay. He was just glad the Outcast never found it, otherwise they would have been doomed. As it is though, he had to watch the Grand Master of the Knights of the Keyblade degenerate into a larger version of the same dark monsters they'd sworn to destroy. And the worst part was that the Outcast, the Deviant, the Deceiver, had bound the creature his master had become to his heart, so that no matter what shape or form he appeared in, his former master would now be his most loyal servant.

Disgusted with what he'd seen, he turned his attention back to the negotiations as his Foreteller finished reading the last page of his book of prophecy. Once Ursus was done, Unicornis read the last page of his book, and then Anguis after him. Four copies of the book, and none had the lost page.  _All the evidence points to Leopardos then,_ Ephemer realized as he watched Emma turn to stare at her Foreteller in shock and confusion. But before they could ask Leopardos to read from his Book, Atlantean guards burst into the room.

**"** **You're Majesty!"** They shouted as they raced to King Kashekim's side.  **"Security patrols have discovered Leopardos troops encamped on the outskirts of the capital city!"**

**"** **WHAT!?"** both the king and Emma shouted in fury. Immediately shouts of outrage and accusation rose up across the room, only to be silenced by the loud BANG! Of Leopardos slamming his Book of Prophecies down on the table.

**"** **ENOUGH!"** He shouted.  **"Yes, I did it. I did it all. I did it because none of you would listen to me. Light cannot exist without casting a shadow, and yet you're all convinced that the darkness seeping into our world is an abomination meant to be crushed under your armored heels. Unicornis thinks light and dark can coexist, but only if the light is dominant, oppressing anything that is different. I say no. Light and Darkness need to be balanced. And the only way to do that, is with the X – Blade."**

**"** **No,"** Anguis snapped.  **"You cannot pervert our Master's blade to such despicable ends. If the X – Blade is found, it can only be used to burn away the darkness."**

**"** **Now hang on,"** Ursus interrupted.  **"The X – Blade is the most powerful weapon in the world, it should be used to protect the people from more important threats. We need more power to protect them. If adding the power of darkness to our repertoire will make us strong enough to protect everyone, then what's wrong with that?"**

**"** **What's wrong with that is using it to rule with an iron fist and calling it protection,"** Ava retorted.  **"The power of the X – Blade was only mean for the pure of heart and it's clear from this meeting that good intentions or not, none of us meet that qualification."**

**"** **I concur with Vulpeus,"** Unicornis added.  **"None of us should have the X – Blade. We need to figure out what to do on our own."**

**"** **YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!"** Leopardos' voice broke through the silence immediately followed by a scream of pain from Ava. Everyone stared in horror at the large yellow Keyblade emerging from Ava's chest, her pink robes stained red with blood. Behind the chair, Leopardos had a look of sorrow and conviction on his face, as if he didn't want to kill Ava but felt he had no choice. Unfortunately nobody payed attention to him.

**"** **Ava!"** Ephemer shouted as he and her lieutenants raced over to catch the Foreteller as she fell from her seat once Leopardos withdrew his Keyblade.

**"** **The light has been on top for too long,"** Leopardos stated calmly as the other Foretellers raced over and prepared to do battle.  **"It's time for the shadows to have their day in the limelight. The so-called "Heart of Atlantis" was created by combining a fallen comet with the hearts of the Atlantean people, creating a miniature replica of Kingdom Hearts, if you will. And right now, it is the key to finding the X – Blade."**

**"** **HOW DARE YOU!"** Kashekim roared.  **"I INVITE YOU INTO MY PALACE AND NOT ONLY DO YOU VIOLATE THE LAWS OF NEUTRALITY, NOW YOU BLATANTLY ATTEMPT TO STEAL THE MOST CRUCIAL PIECE OF ATLANTEAN CULTURE!?"** The king marched back to his throne and activated the crystal-powered intercom on the armrest to contact the head of Atlantean secuirity.  **"COMMANDER!"** he shouted into the device.  **"The warriors of the Keyblade have violated the laws of neutrality. Our borders are now closed to all outsiders. Every Key bearer found on Atlantean soil is to be killed on sight!**

**"** **I'd like to see you try!"** Leopardos retorted with a smirk before departing the room with a swirl of his golden robes, with Ursus right behind him. Ursus' other lieutenant walked briskly afterwards while Emma and the other Leopardos lieutenant cast sad, regretful glances at Ephemer before they walked out after their Foreteller. They knew that what was happening was wrong, but he could see in their eyes that they were only going with their leader because they did not want the friends they made in their union to die because of their Foreteller's arrogance and crimes. Tears began to slide down Ephemera's cheeks as Kashekim mournfully directed the remaining Key-bearers to his personal escape craft. Everyone had come to this summit hoping to resolve their differences and come up with a unified solution. But instead, battle lines had been drawn, and sides had been chosen. The war had begun.

**"** **I do not blame you for Ava's death,"** the king replied sadly,  **"but I must put my people first. We cannot get involved in the coming war."** When Anguis, Unicornis, Ephemer, and the others had carried Ava's body from the throne room, the armada commander's voice came over the intercom.

**"** **Your majesty!"** the man's voice boomed.  **"Several fleets of Keyblade warships are closing in on the perimeter from all directions."**

**"** **If they so much as go one millimeter over the line, you have my authorization to fire on that fleet with everything you have,"** the king replied before he raced out of the throne room to find his wife and daughter.

* * *

#### The Lost Empire – Underground Highway

#### July 24, 2015

Kairi snapped back to the present as Mole's drilling machine roared back to life. Today was the fourth day since they'd set off through the tunnel, and according to Milo they were almost there. The veteran members of the expedition team were a little reluctant as a whole to trust her and Riku at first, but when Heartless began appearing in the caves, forcing the two to pull out their Keyblades and protect the caravan, they'd been much more welcoming. When asked for an explanation of what the Heartless were, and about their own past, telling their story snowballed into telling the entire story of the fight against Xehanort. Everyone was surprised and impressed to hear of what she and Riku had accomplished, and all wanted to visit Radiant Garden sometime after the expedition to Atlantis was over.

Returning her focus to the present, she climbed back into the truck she and Riku were riding in while Mole's driller bored through the thick carved wall. The closer they got to Atlantis, the more uneasy Kairi became, as if she was afraid of what they might find.  _But that's crazy,_ she thought to herself.  _I've never been there before. Unless… maybe Atlantis was some place important to Ava back before the Keyblade War?_ Although she knew that she was technically Ava's reincarnation, she still saw Ava as a separate person.  _Braig mentioned in the note that her murder was what started the Keyblade War. Maybe these visions are the events leading up to her death?_

By the end of the fourth day, they'd come across a large glowing stalactite hanging from the cave ceiling.

"This is it," Milo said as he glanced from his book, a tome called The Shepherd's Journal which contained detailed directions to the ruins of Atlantis, and the glowing rock formation overhead. "It's gotta be.

"Alright, we'll make camp here," Rourke announced as everyone got out of the vehicles and started unpacking the camping supplies.

"Why is it glowing?" Audrey wondered aloud, asking the question they were all thinking.

"It is a natural phosphorescence," Mole commented bluntly.

"What if it's some kind of firefly nest or something?" Kairi suggested, voicing the thought that had come to her head aloud.

"Well whatever that thing is, it's going to keep me up all night," Vinnie replied as everyone walked back to the vehicles when Cookie rang the bell announcing that dinner was ready. Kairi fought back the bile that rose in the back of her throat as Cookie served platefuls of disgusting, greasy brown slime that did not look remotely appetizing in anyway. As the group ate, Sweet looked over to where Milo was sitting by himself, looking over the Shepherd's Journal as he tried to eat Cookie's food.

"You know," the doctor said, "We've been pretty tough on the kid. What do you say we cut him some slack?"

"I was wondering when you guys would say that," Riku responded with an amused chuckle, causing everyone to start laughing.

"Yeah, you're right," Audrey admitted as the laughter died down. "Hey Milo," she turned around and called out to the linguist. "Why don't you come over here and sit with us?" The young man was thrilled to be included in the group, and everyone yelled at Mole when he tried to put a whoopee cushion under the newbie's seat. As the expanded group ate, Milo talked about how he was confused by the fact that the journal seemed to be missing a page. The two Keyblade Wielders chuckled when everyone in the group admitted that they were on this expedition for the money in perfect sequence, before raising Milo's spirits that they were on the journey for the adventure. They laughed uproariously when everyone dumping their uneaten slop into the fire created a mini-explosion, before they all started sharing origin stories as they pitched their tents for the night.

Kairi felt a sense of kinship with Milo as he told Audrey how his grandfather had taken him in when his parents died. It reminded her of moving in with her uncle. Despite her terrified cringing at Mrs. Packard announcing that she slept in the nude and being handed a blindfold with the warning that Mrs. Packard was a sleepwalker, she enjoyed hearing everyone's backstories. Sweet was drafted into the army right after graduating from medical school, and Audrey was going to use the money from this expedition to help her father open another auto repair shop. She giggled a bit when Vinnie admitted that his family used to own a flower shop, until the day is blew up from a gas leak or something, thus inspiring his obsession with explosives. Then she and Riku shuddered in unison when Sweet warned them that they did not want to know about Mole's story before they all went to sleep for the night.

* * *

A few hours later, Kairi was leaning silently against one of the walls of the underground cavern. She'd been tossing and turning in her sleep until finally she woke up again, feeling this strange sense that the group was being watched. As she walked around the perimeter of the camp, she saw something moving in the shadows. Expecting Heartless, she readied her Keyblade, only to realize that the figures appeared to humans wearing menacing looking tribal masks. As she cautiously approached the masked warriors, one of them stepped towards her, and took off their mask, revealing a white-haired young woman underneath.

**"** **Ava?"** the young woman said curiously.

**"** **What did you call me?"** Kairi asked, confused. Suddenly she clamped her hand over her mouth in shock as she realized she'd just spoken a completely different language. Before either could could say anything however, Kairi was distracted by shouts coming from the camp, and raced back to see what was going on. She raced back to the main campsite to find a raging inferno as Milo ran through the camp screaming "FIRE!"

"GET SOME WATER ON THAT FIRE!" Helga shouted as she directed random crewmen to start bailing water into the flames.

"NO TIME!" Rourke ordered as he emerged from his tent. "GET US INTO THOSE CAVES! MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!" Kairi raced into camp to help with the evacuation. Within a few minutes, she, Riku, and Audrey helped Milo as the linguist scrambled into the back of the truck they were riding in seconds before the one behind exploded. In the mad dash to escape the roaring flames, the truck carrying their supply of gasoline exploded. This, combined with the falling firefly nest, caused the bridge to crack, sending the remnants of the convoy sliding down into the chasm below. An hour or so later, Rourke lit a match as everyone regained consciousness.

"Alright," he called out. "Who's not dead? Sound off!" Everyone gave out a loud groan to signal that they were still alive while the commander turned on a working headlight from one of the trucks before asking Audrey for a damage assessment.

"Not as bad as it could've been," she reported. "We totaled rigs two and seven, but the digger looks like it'll still run. Lucky for us we landed in something soft." As soon as she said this, Mole examined the soil and informed the group that they were standing in the base of a dormant volcano.  _Well as long as it says dormant we shouldn't have a problem,_ Riku mused to himself as Mole explained that it would take an explosive force of great magnitude. After that, everyone immediately glared at Vinnie, who was in the midst of putting together a home-made time bomb.

"If we could blow the top off that thing," Rourke suggested as he and Helga examined the volcano's blocked shaft, "we'd have a straight shot to the surface." He started to ask Milo what he thought of the plan when they all realized that their guide was nowhere to be found. Just as they were about to go looking for him, a voice that only two people in the group had heard before called out.

"Oh thank goodness!" a man's voice called out. "More people! I'm saved!" Everyone immediately readied whatever weapons they had as a raggedy looking man with a blood-soaked piece of fabric wrapped around the right side of his face emerged from a nearby tunnel. "I wandered into these caves on a school hiking trip, and I got stranded down here for months," the man gasped as he wandered up to Rourke and hugged the man. "I thought I'd never see another human being again."

"What's your name, son?" Rourke asked as the group lowered their weapons. Audrey immediately put up her guard again though, when Kairi leaned over and whispered to the younger girl who the man really was. He might be able to dirty himself up to convince the crew of his story, but she and Riku recognized the Freeshooter underneath his disguise.

"Ethan Berk, sir," Braig replied with fake weariness and exhaustion. After a lengthy discussion of what each party was doing there, during which both "Ethan" and Rourke omitted their true reasons for being down in the caves, everyone followed the digger as Mole drilled through the caves in search of Milo. As the group jogged to keep up with the large machine, Kairi hung back to talk to the "lost hiker."

"You may have everyone else fooled, Braig," she warned, "but you can't fool me. Whatever it is you and Xehanort want here, we aren't going to let you get it."

"As if you could actually stop me, Ava," he replied.

"Just because I'm the reincarnation of a Foreteller doesn't mean I  _am_ her, alright," she retorted quietly but angrily. "I am me. Ava's heart may be a part of me but that does not mean she  _is_ me." With that, she jogged back to the front of the group to make sure Sweet, Vinnie, and the others understood who their guest really was. A few minutes later, the digger broke through a wall of rock to find Milo standing on the edge of a cliff looking out. Everyone walked up and stood next to him as they started at the lost city of Atlantis.  _It's so beautiful,_ Kairi thought to herself as she suddenly felt a strange feeling of bittersweet joy.  _But then why do I feel so sad, then?_

"Milo, I gotta hand it to you," Sweet said as they all stood on the cliff looking over the mythical city. "You really came through." He took it back seconds later when the masked warriors from earlier appeared behind them.

"Holy cats," Rourke gasped. "Who're these guys?"

"They've gotta be Atlanteans," Milo replied excitedly.

"What?" Helga asked incredulously. "That's impossible."

"I agree with Milo," Kairi said. "It's the only explanation that makes sense."  _And something in my heart is telling me that we're right,_ she thought privately to herself. Suddenly, the leader of the Atlanteans in front of them stepped forward.

**"** **Who are you strangers and where did you come from?"** the woman asked. Kairi blinked again, realizing not only that this was the same woman as before but that she could understand what she was saying despite having never even hearing of Atlantis until only a few days ago. She chuckled when Milo attempted to talk to the young woman (who seemed strangely familiar to Kairi), only for him to do so very poorly, forcing the Atlantean woman to start correcting his grammar. After the woman revealed her ability to speak French, Mole walked up to her and whispered something in her ear that caused her to punch him in the face. As the remaining Atlantean warriors took off their masks and started greeting the travelers in multiple different languages.

"How do they know all these languages?" Audrey asked what they were all thinking.

"Their language must be based on a root dialect," Milo suggested. "It's just like the Tower of Babel." Having grown up off-world, Riku and Kairi didn't get the reference, but they at least understood the intent.

"Well maybe English is in there somewhere," Rourke mused before introducing the group to the Atlanteans. "We are explorers from the surface world," he said. "We come in peace."

"Welcome," the young woman spoke in English to the explorers. "To the city of Atlantis. Come, you must speak with my father now." With that, she grabbed Milo by the hand and led the group towards a narrow rope bridge leading to the city while Rourke ordered a small squad to return to the volcano shaft and salvage what they could from the vehicles left there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was looking around for a translation of what Milo and Kida were saying in that scene at the end, so I found this on [ Tumblr ](post/112331709365/milo-meets-kida-translated-aka-milo-fails-at) and I thought it was both funny and cute that Milo screwed up speaking Atlantean in a conversation and Kida has to correct him.
> 
> I quoted most of the Foreteller's dialogue at the beginning of the meeting from the 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue announcement trailer a few months ago. As for why they refer to Xehanort's Foreteller incarnation as The Outcast? Well I wrote this fic before his name was revealed, and I needed something for them to call him other than "the sixth foreteller" before I could come up with an actual name for him. 
> 
> Emma and the bit about someone using the darkness for good is a shout out to Emma Swan from Once Upon A Time. The darkness being used for good bit is a reference to a Season 5 episode where she had a conversation with Merlin about that exact same thing (in which he told her that it was possible but he had yet to meet someone who possessed a strong enough heart/will to do so)
> 
> Regarding Kairi's thoughts on the whole reincarnation thing, the way I see it is normal people being reincarnated (I know, she's a princess of Heart and a Keyblade wielder, but what I mean by normal is everyone who isn't an Unchained) are kind of like the Avatar (from Avatar: The Last Airbender) where each reincarnation is still technically their own separate person with their own personality and beliefs, while for the Unchained, who retain their memories every time they're reincarnated, reincarnation feels to them more like when The Doctor regenerates.
> 
> Ephemer's faction in Kingdom Hearts X or Unchained X is based on whatever faction the player chooses (ex. If you're in Leopardos, then he's in Ursus). I chose to go with Urusus because the play-through I watched on youtube had him in that union, so I went with what I knew.
> 
> And to be clear, I'm basically saying that the Master of Masters became Xehanort's Guardian Heartless that we all know from KH1.


	52. Going After Rourke

#### Earth – Atlantean Capital

#### 6,002 B.C.

Ephemer winced as another hovercraft exploded a few yards from the royal yacht's starboard side, grateful that the airship lacked the open air-design of most Atlantean aircraft. The group had flow out of the palace only to find a battle raging on the ground and in the air. A handful of Leopardos troops managed to commandeer some Ketaks, Aktiraks, and Martags, and were now dog-fighting in the sky with the Atlantean armada as their army fought to escape the island kingdom.  _I hope Emma's okay,_ he thought to himself as he looked out at the laser blasts streaking back and forth across the afternoon sky. He glanced sadly back at the row of seats in the main cabin on which Ava's dead body had been laid. Even though he'd seen so many horrible things during his time in captivity, the look of shock and pain in Ava's lifeless eyes haunted the young man more than any of the horrors Leopardos and the Outcast had inflicted upon him. He averted his gaze back out the open window to the battlefield in time to see an explosion of blue fire erupt from a cluster of buildings on the outskirts of the capital.

 **"** **I'm going down there,"** He announced firmly. Ava's lieutenant, a pink-haired man named Derax, turned his head from his seat in surprise.

 **"** **You can't!"** the older man exclaimed.  **"It's a warzone outisde. The Leopardos union lit this inferno. Let them burn in it. It's the only way we'll make it out of this hellfire unscathed."**

 **"** **No!"** the nineteen-year old Key bearer snapped.  **"I refuse to allow the girl I love to die because of her Foreteller's arrogance."** Before the other man could protest, Ephemer ran to the nearest entrance hatch and jumped out of the ship. With the battle raging in the sky, he used a Reflega spell to shield himself from laser fire as he plummeted towards the ground. After using an Aerora spell to cushion his fall, he took a moment to collect himself before racing off towards the original explosion when he saw another one a few blocks away. Jumping into the air to avoid a crashing Ketak, the young man raced towards the explosion to find Leopardos warriors locked in combat with the Atlantean army while Atlantean-controlled Marags bombed the building that had evidently served as a safe house for the Leopardos troops. As he raced towards the confrontation, he saw one blonde-haired young woman was leading a small group of her fellow Key bearers in holding off the guards while the others escaped.

 **"** **Emma!"** He called out as he leapt into the fray.  **"You have to get out of here! It's not safe!"** He batted aside the guards' spears as he joined the battle.

 **"** **No. I'm not leaving until my brothers and sisters get to safety,"** Emma retorted.  **"I can't let my friends die because of our Foreteller's greed and arrogance."** _Damn,_ the young man thought to himself as he joined his crush in knocking aside Atlantean soldiers.  _I hate it when she uses the exact same logic as I do._ He knocked an Atlantean soldier on his back with the flat edge of his blade as their fellow Key bearers raced out of the capital. Within a few minutes, the guards were all unconscious, and Ephemer decided that with the battle lines drawn as they were, he wouldn't get another chance to confess his feelings for Emma. So he pulled her in tight and kissed her. For a minute they just stood there in the shadow of the burning building, until the arrival of the two renegade Foretellers ruined the moment.

 **"** **Good, you're here,"** Leopardos said bluntly as he and Ursus darted into the square they now stood in.  **"Find the other units and tell them to prepare for a counterattack. We need to take this city in order to find the X – Blade."**

 **"** **No,"** Emma defiantly refused.  **"You can't just invade a sovereign kingdom just because they have what you want."**

 **"** **You swore and oath of loyalty when you joined the Union, Lieutenant Swann,"** Leopardos snapped.  **"If you choose to break that oath, then the punishment for treason is immediate execution. It's really your choice."** For a moment, the two Key bearers stood off with their former Foretellers. As they glared at each other, Leopardos looked up and spotted an incoming Marag.  **"And it seems that you've already made it,"** he replied as he and Ursus vanished through a Door of Light seconds before the Atlantean aircraft fired on the group of Key bearers.

 **"** **EMMA!"** Ephemer screamed as the blast knocked him into a nearby building as blue fire spread out from the point of impact. The pain as the left side of his face burned left him with no other option than to smother the flames with his scarf as the love of his life was incinerated by the crystal-powered laser of the Atlantean Marag. Pushing aside the searing pain in his face, he dragged himself over to where Emma's Keyblade lay on the ground, the only thing left of the girl of his dreams besides ash. The two Foretellers had condemned him and Emma to die in that blast as punishment for disobeying them while they escaped back to their respective strongholds. For a few minutes, Ephemer just sat on the pavement sobbing as the fire on his skin stopped burning, leaving a few burned holes in his scarf. He only stood up when alarm bells began to ring and a panicked voice rang out over the city's PA system.

 **"** **EVERYONE TO THE SHELTERS!"** The voice commanded urgently as Ephemer looked out towards the ocean and saw a titanic wall of water bearing down on Atlantis.  **"EVERYONE TO THE SHELTERS!"** Clutching his face after removing his scarf, Ephemer sprinted back to the royal palace. He was still grieving, but he knew that Emma would not want him to throw is life away senselessly. If he was going to be reunited with her in death, he was going to have to die in battle, not in a flood.  _What happened to the Leopardos fleet then?_ He wondered as he raced through the streets of the capital as the battle continued to rage overhead.  _Did they all get destroyed? Are they all gone?_

He reached the city's center only to find that he was too late. The Heart of Atlantis had already raised a force-field around the city's central district, leaving those trapped outside doomed to die. Couples embraced each other while others helplessly pounded on the impenetrable barrier with their hands as the tidal wave flooded into the city. As everyone around him stood in horror at the oncoming wave, holding their loved ones in their last moments, all Ephemer did was stand in the middle of the square, glaring at the force of nature.  _Bring it on,_ he thought as he faced his doom. The last thing he saw before the wave hit was the force-field sinking underground with the palace inside it, and then the wave struck. The force of the mega-tsunami was enough to knock Ephemer unconscious as it crashed against the force-field. As his vision faded before he passed out, he could faintly make out the shape of an old man with a large, turquoise fish-tail swimming towards him.

* * *

#### The Lost Empire – Atlantean Throne Room

#### July 25, 2015

 **"** **Greetings, your Highness,"** Kidagakash said as Braig's unwanted flashback to the day Atlantis sank ended when the princess of Atlantis led Thatch, Rourke, and Sinclair into the throne room.  **"I have brought visitors."** Though he hadn't come to the city in thousands of years, he still remembered how to speak Atlantean, and he couldn't help but marvel at how much the young princess had grown since the last time he was here. He kept his mouth closed as he hid behind a column in the open-air throne room, observing the first contact Atlantis had had with the outside world in millennia.

 **"** **You know the law, Kida,"** Kashekim replied.  **"No outsiders may see the city and live."**

 **"** **Father,"** Kida began as that linguist Thatch pulled out a notebook and started trying to translate the conversation.  **"These people may be able to help us."**

 **"** **We do not need their help,"** the king declared bluntly.

 **"** **But father…"** the princess said.

 **"** **That is enough,"** the ancient king snapped.  **"We will discuss this later."** _Indeed we shall,_ Braig thought to himself, knowing that he and the king would later be conversing about things the older man hadn't thought about since the city sank. Meanwhile, Rourke started talking about what an honor it was to be welcomed into the city, only for the king to shut the speech down and tell the man that they were  _not_ welcome in his kingdom. They went on about it until Rourke was able to convince the king to let the explorers stay for one night to rest, regroup, and resupply before returning to the surface in the morning.  _He's after the Heart,_ the one-eyed man thought to himself as he warped back outside before anyone noticed he was gone. Unfortunately, the rest of the crew glared at him when he emerged from the shadows. Evidently Riku and Kairi had told them about who he really was. Rourke still brushed off the two Key bearers' attempts to tell him, meaning that there was still at least one person who trusted "Ethan Berk."

When the trio walked out of the throne room, they began to discuss how to find out what the king was hiding, which led to that kid Thatch being volunteered to talk to the princess. Having instantly figured out what Rourke's plan was for that, the Freeshooter resolved to warn the king about the threat the mercenary posed. He chuckled when, after rehearsing how to ask her about what her father was hiding, the girl sneaked up behind Thatch and informed him that he wasn't leaving the city until he answered her questions, using almost the exact same wording the young man had been rehearsing. As Kida led the boy off to show him something, he took a look around to make sure he wasn't being watched, and walked into the throne room. When the guards tried to tell him to leave, he froze them with a Stopga spell.

 **"** **I apologize for the intrusion, your highness,"** he began, slipping back into Atlantean for the first time in thousands of years.  **"But I needed to speak with you alone, without risk of any of my "fellow explorers" overhearing."**

 **"** **You presume much, to simply barge into my palace,"** Kashekim replied angrily standing up from his throne.  **"Who are you and what to you want here? I have already told the others that what they seek does not exist."**

 **"** **We both know that it does, your majesty,"** Braig retorted with a smirk he knew the blinded king wouldn't be able to see. **"But as for who I am, I have gone by many names over the last eight thousand years. The others know me as "Ethan Berk," but the last time I visited Atlantis was as a lieutenant of Ursus, named Ephemer."** After a moment of surprise, the king nodded.

 **"** **I thought your voice seemed familiar,"** Kashekim said.  **"Ava spoke of you often. She told me you were her closest friend.**

 **"** **I was,"** Braig answered sadly.  **"I still have nightmares about the day she died."**

 **"** **As do I, my friend,"** the king added.  **"As do I. Please, forgive me for my rash actions that day. My order for the death of every Key bearer on Atlantean soil was given out of anger and grief, never of malice."**

 **"** **I know,"** Braig replied.  **"It doesn't make the death of the woman I love any less painful, though."**

 **"** **I am so sorry,"** the king said mournfully.  **"If I may ask however, I presume you have survived all these millennia through the use of the Atlantean crystal I'd given Ava?"**

 **"** **No,"** Braig answered.  **"Before my time in Leopardos' captivity that Ava mentioned at the summit, I Unchained myself at her suggestion."**

 **"** **And so you've merely retained your memories with each reincarnation,"** the elderly monarch finished, impressed.  **"If only Ava had done so, then perhaps her loss wouldn't have been so painful."**

 **"** **She didn't Unchain herself,"** Braig replied.  **"But her reincarnation is part of this group of explorers I stowed away with. She and the reincarnation of Unicornis joined the expedition at the last minute. And it's only the leader and his right-hand woman you need be wary of, your highness. The others are all good people, and those who are in on the leader's plans for the Crystal will turn on him if the lengths he goes to in order to obtain it are extreme enough."**

 **"** **I will consider your advice, old friend,"** the king said.  **"And though we did not know each other well before the Mebelmok, you are the only link left to Ava. I will speak with her reincarnation tonight and see how much she knows, but the Ava that I knew still died the day my city sank."** Braig bowed respectfully to the king before agreeing with the older man's statement.  **"Now go,"** the monarch added with a smile.  **"Enjoy your night in Atlantis. I will send a courier to find your group after dinner."** Braig grinned as he walked out of the room just as the Stop spell wore off.

* * *

Meanwhile, Riku, Kairi, and the other explorers were off exploring everything Atlantis had to offer.

"Look at all those tattoos…" Audrey commented in amazement as she, Kairi, and Cookie stopped in front of a stall in the marketplace where a man was getting a tattoo on his arm. The two girls turned around in disgust when Cookie pulled up his shirt to reveal a tattoo on his chest depicting "all 38 United States," before proceeding to "make Rhode Island dance."

"That's disgusting," Kairi moaned as she fought the urge to gag at the chef's revolting display.

A few hours later, the entire group was dining with the princess in an Atlantean nobleman's house. Kairi chuckled as Milo struggled to explain the names and professions of everyone in the crew to the princess, Kida. After she finished her meal, Kairi stepped outside to enjoy the view. With the way Mole was eating, it was a mess in there, so she needed a little fresh air. A few minutes later, one of the royal guards ran up to the house and walked in. She could hear the man talking but couldn't make out the words. A moment later, Riku poked his head out the back door.

"The king wants to speak with us," he said.

"What?" she asked incredulously. "Why?"

"All the courier knows is that the king told him to say it was "Keyblade business"," the silver-haired Keyblade Master answered. "So we'd better get going. And for some reason, Braig's been invited, too." Kairi grumbled about that as the courier led her, Riku, and Braig back to the royal palace. When they'd arrived, the king greeted them warmly.

"I apologize for being rude to your comrades earlier," the ancient monarch began. "But there are things about my kingdom that outsiders cannot be allowed to exploit. As Keybearers, you must understand where I'm coming from." Riku and Kairi were shocked.  _How did he know?_

"I'm sorry your majesty," Riku replied, "we're used to being discreet to protect the boundaries between the worlds. What gave us away?"

"Your associate told me," the king replied, nodding towards where Braig stood. "Much has changed in the last few thousand years, but I remember the day the Keyblade War first began... The day my city sank beneath the waves."

"What happened?" Kairi asked curiously, deciding to wait to reveal Braig's alliance with Xehanort until after they'd gotten all the information they could. Well intentioned though he may be, but the Unchained sniper was still part of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness and needed to be stopped. "How did it sink?"

"You don't remember?" the king asked, sounding both hurt and understanding at the same time.

"What do you mean 'remember'?" she asked incredulously. "I've never been here before.

"But you were in your past life," Kashekim replied. "Ephemera told me everything, Ava," he added as he nodded again towards Braig.

"With all due respect, your majesty," Kairi replied, getting a little frustrated at Braig's actions once again. "As I told Braig before, just because I'm supposed to have Ava's heart doesn't mean I am her. Braig or Ephemera or whatever he wants to call himself is convinced that because I'm Ava's reincarnation, I'm supposed to be a carbon copy of her. But I'm not. I'm just Kairi." After she finished venting her frustration with that, Braig announced that he had to take care of some business on another world before departing with a look of pain and sadness on his face.

"Honestly, my dear," the King said with what looked like a sad smile on his face, "I fell the same way about reincarnation myself. There may be some personality traits or opinions carried over from incarnation to incarnation, but because the soul is different each time, the previous lives are gone forever. The Ava I knew... gone forever."

"How?" Kairi asked, curious to know how the king knew her past incarnation and relieved to meet someone outside her fellow heroes who knew about reincarnation and didn't see her as a carbon copy of Ava. Behind her, Riku stayed silent, knowing that this was something Kairi needed to do herself. He could find out about his own past life as a Foreteller later. Since the king of Atlantis knew Kairi's, this was her moment.

"It was the day the Keyblade War began," the monarch answered sadly. "Ava had come to me a few days prior asking to host a conference between the Foretellers in the Atlantean capital, feeling that their own headquarters in Daybreak Town was too volatile to be considered neutral ground. She wanted them all to put aside their differences and work towards a peaceful solution, but the negotiations failed. There were rumors of a traitor among the Foretellers' ranks. When Leopardos was exposed as the traitor, he murdered her, right here in this room." Kairi's eyes followed the sad king's gaze until they came to rest upon a small square stone discolored from the years it had spent stained with Ava's blood.

"I've been having these visions once we started travelling to Atlantis," she explained as tears welled up in her eyes. "I couldn't remember them for long after they were over and I didn't know what they were at first, but I was beginning to suspect that it was the events leading up to Ava's death. Now I know why. It's because she died here, and because I share her heart, I was having flashbacks to the day she died the closer we got to Atlantis." At that point the princess of Radiant Garden broke down in tears and let out all the pent up stress over the whole reincarnation issue. The king of Atlantis got up from his throne, came over, and hugged her. As she dried her eyes, the king continued.

"Ava was like a second daughter to me, and my daughter, Kida looked up to her as an older sister. When she was murdered, I went made with grief. Leopardos was exposed when my guards discovered his followers preparing to invade my kingdom and take the Heart of Atlantis, the crystal that serves as the collective life-force of our people. In grief I retaliated by ordering every Keybearer on Atlantean soil to be killed on sight, and for our armada to fire on the warships Leopardos was attempting to land on our shores. The weapons we used caused the cataclysm which destroyed our civilization. And we have been trapped down here ever since." They talked about Ava and the beginning of the Keyblade War (specifically the bases Ava had mentioned when asking to set up the meeting) a little while longer until the doors blew open, revealing the crew armed with guns (or tied up in Milo and Kida's cases) and menacing looks on their faces.

"Knock knock," Vinnie said drolly.

"Room service!" Cookie added as he pointed his double-barreled shotgun at the guards.

"Tell them to drop their weapons!" Helga ordered as she pointed her gun at Kida's back. "Now!" reluctantly, Kashekim ordered his guards to drop their spears. "Spread out!" the blonde woman ordered once the order had been complied with, "search everywhere!" The rest of the group, along with the some of the gas-mask wearing crewmen who'd gone back to the volcano shaft earlier that day began tearing the room apart looking for something.  _The Heart of Atlantis,_ Kairi realized as Milo told Rourke that the only thing the journal said about the crystal's location was that it "lies in the eyes of our king." Unfortunately, this prompted the commander to interrogate the king, punching him in the gut when he refused to answer.

 **"** **I will kill you for that,"** Kida cursed in Atlantean as she struggled against her bonds.

"Rourke, this was not part of the plan," Sweet snapped angrily as the doctor ran over and examined the wounded king.

"Plans change, doc," the mercenary declared cruelly as he sat on Kashekim's throne. "I'd suggest you put a bandage on that bleeding heart of yours. It doesn't suit a mercenary." As the mercenary sat on the Atlantean throne, he cocked his gun and threatened to shoot the king if he didn't give up the location of the crystal. He was about to pull the trigger when he stopped and looked at the cover of the Shepherd's Journal. Kairi followed the man's line of sight and realized that he'd just discovered the location of the Heart of Atlantis. As Rourke walked into the center of the Atlantean glyph formed from the stones in the water, the raised stone beneath the water line began to sink, revealing itself to be an ancient elevator platform. As it descended beneath the surface, everyone pointed their guns at the Keyblade Wielders to keep them from interfering.

* * *

A few minutes later, the four returned, but something was different this time. Kida had apparently become a vessel for the Heart of Atlantis, her entire body now made entirely of glowing blue crystal. Kairi's heart sank when she saw this, and she and Riku joined Milo in glaring at Audrey as she fastened the bolts on the container Rourke had brought along to transport the crystal. Sweet had deserted the mercenaries the moment Rourke punched the king, and was staying inside tending to the old man's wound. It infuriated her that she and Riku couldn't do anything, knowing that once Rourke's men realized that the Keybearers couldn't be hit with bullets, they'd start shooting the Atlanteans instead.

"So," Milo said bitterly as Audry helped load Kida's crate onto the truck. "I guess this is how it ends. You're wiping out an entire civilization but hey, at least you'll be rich." Kairi glanced angrily at the crate while Milo bitterly congratulated everyone on being able to achieve their goals. "Because that's what it's all about," he finished. "Money." Riku and Kairi each put a hand on his shoulder in support as they expressed their agreement through glares.

"I guess money does matter more than the lives of other people," she added sadly. "Good luck with everything, guys."

"Get off your soap boxes, you three," Rourke replied angrily. "Thatch has read Darwin. It's called Natural selection. We're just helping it along."

"Commander, we're ready!" Helga announced from the lead truck.

"Give me a minute!" Rourke shouted back before doing a checklist of everything before punching Milo in the face, knocking him to the ground. Kairi retaliated by punching Rourke in the gut, only for the larger man to slap her aside. Riku raced over to make sure she was alright while the mercenary commander walked over to Milo.

"Look at it this way son," the man said as he stepped on the photograph of Milo's grandfather that fell out of the linguist's bag. "You're the man who discovered Atlantis and now you're part of the exhibit." While Milo sadly pulled the photo of his grandfather out of its shattered frame, Riku helped Kairi to her feet and together they made their way over to stand with their friend. "Let's move people!" Rourke shouted as he walked into the lead truck.

"That was an order, not a suggestion!" Helga shouted. "Let's go!" Seconds later, Audrey jumped out of one of the trucks and slammed the door. She marched over to Milo and helped him to his feet as Riku and Kairi reached him. She glared at Vinnie, who immediately walked over and helped support Milo as he stood up. One by one, Cookie, Mole, and Mrs. Packard got out of the truck and marched over to stand with Milo.

"Oh, you can't be serious!" Rourke commented in exasperation.

"This is wrong and you know it!" Audrey retorted angrily.

"We're this close to our biggest payday ever and you pick now of all times to grow a conscience!?" the commander asked incredulously.

"We've done a lot of things we're not proud of," Vinnie responded. "Robbing graves, plundering tombs, double parking… but nobody got hurt. Well, maybe somebody got hurt, but nobody we knew."

"Well if that's the way you want it, fine!" Rourke snapped as he climbed back into the truck carrying the crystallized Kida. "More for me." With that, he and Helga drove off with the crystal. As the trucks drove out onto the bridge, the city's waterfalls stopped flowing, and the glowing lights of the small crystals the Atlantean people wore around their necks faded.

"We can't let him do this!" Milo shouted as he raced towards the bridge.  _Rourke already rigged the bridge to blow so nobody could follow him,_ Riku and Kairi both realized as Vinnie held the young man back. Sure enough, as soon as the trucks cleared the other side of the bridge, the rickety wooden structure exploded in a shower of flaming wood, sending chunks of the bridge falling down into the bottomless chasm between the volcano and the city. Kairi and Milo went back inside to talk to the king, but when Sweet revealed that the elderly man had internal bleeding, all they could do was listen to his last words before he died.

"She has been chosen, like her mother before her," Kashekim said weakly after Milo struggled to explain to the king what had happened to his daughter. "In times of danger, the crystal will choose a host," he explained. "One of royal blood to protect itself and its people. It will accept no other."

"So this thing is alive?" Milo asked for clarification.

"In a way," Kashekim replied. "The crystal thrives on the hearts and emotions of those that came before us. In return it provides us with power, longevity, protection… As it grew, it developed a consciousness of its own, a synthetic Kingdom Hearts."

"You mean Kingdom Hearts is sentient?" Kairi asked incredulously. Everyone knew that Kingdom Hearts was the heart of all that lived but that the idea that it had a consciousness of its own was completely new to her."

"Yes," the king replied as his voice became more gravelly. "But back to the matter at hand. In my arrogance, I sought to use the crystal as a weapon of war. I was able to convince Ava, my advisers, and even myself that it was only for the defense of Atlantean territory, but war was brewing, and my idea of protecting my people involved conquering new territory in order to have a buffer between the capital and the rest of the world as the Keyblade War raged. But its power proved too great to control. It overwhelmed us on the day the war began, and lead to our destruction."

"That's why you hid it beneath the city," Milo realized. "To keep history from repeating itself."

"And to prevent Kida from suffering the same fate as my beloved wife," Kashekim finished gravely.

"What do you mean?" Milo asked. "What's going to happen to Kida?"

"If she remains bonded to the crystal," the dying king explained, "she could be lost to it, forever. The love of my daughter is all I have left. My burden would've become hers when the time was right. But now…" he took off his crystal necklace and handed it to Milo. "It falls to you. Return the crystal. Save Atlantis. Save my daughter." As the king's time grew shorter, he turned to Kairi.

"My child," he began, his voice now a hoarse whisper. "Fate has held many twists and turns for you, but if you wish to change your fate, you must take action in order to do so. You must… find the light in the dark. The kings of the past have written of the Keyblade War's endless cycle of death and rebirth. There is only one way… to end the circle of reincarnation… without… destroying… the…" Kairi's heart sank as the ancient monarch's hand slipped from holding hers, and the royal guards lowered their heads as Kashekim Nedakh, king of Atlantis finally died. Tears slid down her face while Sweet gave Milo a pep talk about not giving up on stopping Rourke. Though she'd only known the king for a few hours, having Ava's heart meant that the connection she'd once had with the man was still there, deep down.

A few minutes later, Milo lead Kairi and the rest of the group towards what appeared to be large stone fish. After showing everyone how to activate the ancient aircraft, the Atlantean armada took to the skies for the first time in over eight thousand years as the explorers, Key bearers, and Atlantean warriors flew towards the volcano to rescue the princess. They were going to stop Rourke before he reached the surface. The fleet emerged from the tunnels into the volcano base to find Rourke's men attaching Kida's crate to the bottom of a massive hot-air balloon. Gunfire and explosions filled the air as the battle was joined.

"YOU TOLD ME HE ONLY HAD GUNS!" Milo shouted from his Aktirak as the mercenaries began unloading collapsible biplanes to take away the heroes' aerial advantage.

"WHAT I SAID WAS HE'S NEVER SURPRISED!" Audrey shouted as she and Kairi flew their own Aktirak towards the balloon. Sweet had offered the use of his medical saw that could allegedly cut through a femur in 28 seconds, but Kairi had argued that hers and Riku's Keyblades would be able to cut through any chains better than any normal blade ever could. In the process of avoiding gunfire, Vinnie discovered how to activate the laser weapon of his Marag, and the dogfight intensified as the Atlantean armada started to gain the upper hand. While the Atlantean warriors started blasting away at Rourke's ground troops while Milo pulled the explorers together to come up with a plan. He, Vinnie, Riku, and Sweet would be decoys while Audrey and Kairi would fly up underneath and use the Keyblade to cut Kida loose. Rourke fired a machine gun at the decoys while Kairi and Audrey quickly severed Kida from the hot air balloon while Milo crashed his ship into one of the smaller support balloons, causing the main balloon to lose altitude.

Kairi cast a Reflega spell to deflect the bullets as Rourke turned his fire in their direction while Audrey secured Kida's crate to their ship. Helga finished throwing things overboard in order to lighten the balloon's load so they could start climbing the shaft again, only for Rourke to throw her off the balloon himself. As the battle continued to rage Kairi and Audrey quickly spirited Kida back to the city while the armada stayed behind to mop up the rest of Rourkes forces. While Riku and Rourke dueled on the Zeppelin's deck, a flare shot up and struck the balloon, causing it to burst into flames as it accelerated its descent. After a brief duel, Rourke was knocked off the side of the balloon, but unlike Helga, he didn't miss the propellers. Riku closed his eyes before the gory, messy impact before leaping up to where Milo was waiting with his ship before the armada flew back to the city. Unfortunately, the zeppelin exploded as it hit the cavern floor, awakening the long dormant volcano.

Everyone raced back to Atlantis to find Kairi and Audrey waiting next to the crate, hesitant to approach it for fear of what might happen to them. An Atlantean guard handed Milo his spear, and the young man quickly pried open the crate. One the crystallized princess was free, every carving in the city began to glow the same blue as the crystal.

"THE FISSURE!" Mole shouted as lava began to burst from the tunnel entrance. "IT IS ABOUT TO EJECT ITS PYROCLASTIC FURY!"

"MILO!" Sweet translated. "MOLE SAYS THE WALL'S GONNA BLOW!" Crystal-Kida rose slowly into the air, accompanied by ten stones carved with the faces of what were presumably previous kings of Atlantis that burst out of the ground beneath the palace. As the humanoid crystal rose up, the carved lines in the city stopped glowing, and beams of light shout out from the crystal, causing titanic stone statues to rise up out of the water while molten projectiles streaked overhead. As lava began to pour from the fissure, the stone guardians marched to the edge of the city and clapped their hands together, each generating a small blue force-field that rapidly grew, combining with each of the others until they formed a large dome overhead.

Everyone held their breath as lava flowed over the dome and was instantly cooled, dried, and hardened by the power of the crystals. A moment later, the lava rock fell away, leaving the city itself unharmed. As the energy dome faded, Kida floated down from the sky as herself, leaving the great crystal hanging in the air above the city as it used to thousands of years ago. When the dome faded, the sections of the city which had previously been flooded were emptied of water, leaving the city better off than it had been before. But before the group left, Kida finally pulled Kairi aside, forcing the princess of Radiant Garden to explain to the new queen of Atlantis the whole reincarnation explanation. Kairi was expecting the new queen to be upset that the girl she'd looked up to as a sister was gone forever, but Kida reassured Kairi that even if she was separate from Ava, she still lived on through her. When Kida had been given the whole speech about Xehanort, she told the two Key bearers that she would love to provide support to the Coalition, but that right now her people needed to recover before they were ready to join the alliance. After saying their final goodbyes, the group (except for Milo, who was staying behind to help the Atlanteans re-learn their written language) returned to the surface with the aid of a narwhal-shaped airship.

After getting back to Mr. Whitmore's mansion, Riku and Kairi promised to send over a Gummi Ship for the explorers to travel the worlds with before Mickey beamed them back up to their own ship, ready to talk to Master Yen Sid about what they'd found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The names of the Atlantean aircraft come from the movie's merchandise. Aktiraks are the ones that look like hammerhead sharks, Marags are the big ones that fire lasers from the mouth, and Ketak is the one Kida had Milo show her how to fly earlier after the throne room scene at the beginning of the chapter.


	53. DunBroch

#### Corridors of Darkness

#### July 22, 2015

"Keep running," Ludor hissed as he cast another blizzard spell on his singed coat. Despite the raging snowstorms of the world they'd found themselves on, Sephiroth had been able to find them easily. Terra was able to put up a decent fight against Sephiroth, but he was years out of practice, and Sephiroth honed his skills continuously since the day he was born. Terra shuddered as he thought back to what he'd done that day. The pain he'd caused on that poor boy, Cloud. After his birth, Sephiroth declared his progenitor week, and went after the people close to the boy in order to "make him strong." Sephiroth was an abomination that needed to be erased from the universe. Half his DNA was that of an Inhuman monster, and his human heart was the closest to pure darkness there had ever been since Vanitas.

"Where exactly are we going?" Terra asked as he and Ludor continued their trek through the corridors of Darkness. The good news was that Sephiroth's uncanny ability to track what world they were on didn't work while they were using Dark Corridors. Either that or he was just allowing the two fugitives to pull ahead every so often just to toy with them, but the duo preferred to think it was the former. The Key bearer and the Gambler both panted as they raced through the darkness towards their next stop.

"Some low-tech world," Ludor replied. "I can't remember the name of it for the life of me. I think it was Dune rock or something like that. Anyway, last time I came to this world to do reconnaissance for the old organization, I learned of an old witch who lives on this world. From what I heard, she should be able to help us hide from Sephiroth. We just need to find her."

"How can she help us hide from Sephiroth?" Terra asked incredulously. "Even if Xehanort can only sense what world we're on, Sephiroth can still track a single speck of dust from the other side of the world."

"Simple," the Gambler of Fate answered. "Last time I was here, I asked her about cloaking spells strong enough to fool the One-Winged Angels senses, figuring back then that if anything happened to cause him to go to war with the Organization, we'd all have a means of hiding from him."

"Alright, we'll give it a try," Terra said as they raced out of the Dark Corridor to find themselves standing before a small cottage. He was about to ask which way they needed to go when Ludor answered his unasked question.

"This is the place."

* * *

#### DunBroch – Castle Throne Room

#### July 23, 2015

"So your brothers got turned into bears too?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy struggled to contain their laughter as Merida, the soon-to-be-queen of the world they'd arrived in, told the three heroes the story of how she'd accidentally turned most of her family into bears. They'd just arrived on this world a few hours ago at the request of some old friends. Since this world had yet to have contact with Keyblade Wielders, Mulan and Shang had been sent by the Coalition to make first contact. The couple had landed a few days ago to find that King Fergus, the ruler of this world, had been killed by Maleficent's minions a few weeks ago. Unable to determine Maleficent's motive for assassinating a king out of nowhere when his world apparently held nothing of value to her, they'd asked the three heroes to come and investigate.

"Yeah," the young woman replied with a chuckle. "Right load of trouble they caused around the castle, they did." Although things had been shaky following her father's death, the young red-head had managed to convince the other clans to accept her as their queen, and aside from her ill-advised plan to avenge her father by killing Maleficent she had managed to stop blaming herself for not preventing his death. Her self-confidence had taken a beating, however, after she'd tried to shoot her father's killer, who Sora was able to confirm as Gaston, with her bow and missed. After a few hours of talking and sharing stories, the future queen of Dunbroch went to visit her father's grave once more before the ceremony. A short while later, bagpipes played in the throne room as the coronation began. The off-worlders stood in the front row as the son of the leader of the Mackintosh clan carried Merida's crown down the aisle.

"On behalf of clans Dingwal, Macintosh, and MacGuffin," the bare-chested young man said in a stiff, formal tone. "We freely give this crown."

"Then it is my honor to crown you, Merida of Dunbroch," her mother, Elinor, said as she moved to place the crown on her head, "as our true – " Suddenly the doors burst open, and in strode the white-haired old witch who had helped cause the entire bear situation in the first place.

"Did ya forget to invite me dear?" the eccentric witch asked as she waddled down the hall towards the new queen.

"What're you doing here, witch?" Merida demanded as she drew her sword. "Is this because of that magic I took?" She'd told the visitors about how, when the clan leaders' sons kidnapped her brothers because they didn't believe she was worthy of being queen, she'd sneaked into the witch's cottage when she wasn't home in a failed attempt to use magic to help defeat her siblings' kidnappers.  _Yeah, Merida broke into the witch's house,_ Sora thought to himself,  _but she did what she had to do to save her brothers. Surely this witch would be understanding of that?_

"No," the witch answered. "I'm here because of another happy customer of mine, King Fergus." Everyone was clearly surprised at the idea that Merida's late father would use magic, especially after what had happened when his daughter had dabbled in it.

"Lies!" the red-headed queen declared. "My father would never stoop so low."

"He did not stoop," the witch retorted. "Except to get through the door." Sora couldn't help but chuckle at that part. "But," the elderly woman continued, "he did ask for magic." She then unrolled a scroll with some kind of seal stamped on the bottom. "An enchanted helm to be exact," the woman explained. "One that glistens like the sun."

"Merida," her mother said as she stood up and examined the seal stamped on the bottom of the contract. "I'm afraid that is your father's mark."

"King Fergus died before he could pay me what he owed," the witch explained. "With interest, it was ten thousand gold skirts." The entire audience was stunned by this proclamation, shocked that their former king would waste the kingdom's money so foolishly.

"That much gold would bankrupt the clans three times over," Merida said frantically, saying what everyone but the off-worlders was thinking.  _Yikes,_ they all thought as they cringed in unison.  _There's gotta be another way then,_ Sora thought to himself. Sure enough, the old woman had an alternative.

"If you don't have the gold you can simply return the helmet," the witch offered.  _Well that's easy enough,_ Sora thought as everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"I can't return what I don't have," Merida retorted angrily.  _Okay then,_ Sora thought,  _things just got a whole lot more complicated._

"Then you'd best find it," the witch replied coldly. "If you don't return it by sundown tomorrow, I'll have no choice but to curse the entire kingdom." The coalition delegate's jaw dropped while murmurs of concern spread through the crowd.  _That's a little extreme don't you think?_ Sora wondered and was about to say so when the future queen beat him to the punch.

"You wouldn't," Merida growled threateningly.  _Really Merida?_ Sora almost smacked his forehead.  _You could have worded that better._

"One drop of this," the Witch retorted warningly as she waved a small black bottle around in the air. "And all your subjects will live out the rest of their lives as bears!" Goofy, Shang and Mulan held Sora and Donald back from charging over to the witch and taking the jar from her as shouts of confusion and fear rang up from the queen's audience.  _Now that's just going too far._ Sora thought angrily.

"Quiet!" Merida commanded to her subjects. "Keep your heads!" Unfortunately, everyone had already started freaking out at the ancient woman's ultimatum and wouldn't stop jabbering on about it in various states of surprise, anger, and fear.

"Harder than it looks dear," the witch commented softly. "If you want to wear that crown, you'll have to learn to do what your father couldn't: lead." With that, the witch disappeared in a puff of turquoise smoke as everyone looked around, processing what had just happened. As soon as that was over, Merida, Elinor, and the five off-worlders retreated to the family's chambers to figure out what to do and how to find this enchanted helmet, hoping that this piece of magical headgear, whatever it did, hadn't fallen into Maleficent's hands.

* * *

#### Radiant Garden – Conference Room

#### July 23, 2015

"What did you find?" Cassim asked as he debriefed the newest recruit to the Coalition's intelligence division, a young man named Zidane Tribal. The young had only been twelve when Radiant Garden fell, and had ended up stranded in La Cite De Cloches for a few years before that world had fallen into darkness. After the restoration of the world a year ago, he'd hitched a ride back to Radiant Garden with Aqua, Ventus, and Lea following their brief visit to the world to find allies against Xehanort. Because of the politics of that world, only a few people pledged their support to the group: a soldier named Phoebus, his wife Esmerelda, and a bell-ringer named Quasimodo. The three (plus Esmerelda's pet goat, Djali) had come along to Radiant Garden so that they would be right in the center of the action. His attention returned to the present as the young warrior gave his report.

"I found out how Maleficent is obtaining so many resources for her campaign," the nineteen year old replied as he stood at attention in the small conference room. "One of her allies has seized control of his world and is taxing his subjects to pay for Maleficent's equipment. And they're using the abandoned lair of the forty thieves as vault to hide their loot, thinking that an abandoned lair would not be an obvious place to hide their gold."  _That's genius,_ the former King of Thieves thought to himself as he thought over the best way to handle the situation.  _All three teams of Key bearers are unreachable at the moment, so our options are limited._

"Here's what we're going to do," the older man began. "Sora, Donald, and Goofy shouldn't take long helping with our delegation on DunBroch, so as soon as they leave that world, we'll need to contact their ship and let them know our plan of attack. This will have to be a two-pronged assault. While they overthrow Maleficent's pawn in, what world was it again? Sherwood Forest? Anyway, those three will strike there while we lead a contingent of Coalition troops to raid the villains' treasure horde on Agrabah."

"Brilliant strategy sir," Zidane responded as Cassim stood up. "Shall I inform the council of the plan?"

"Please and thank you," he replied as they walked out of the room. "This will go a long way towards crippling Maleficent's schemes." The pair went on to discuss the recent delegation sent to the Kingdom of Corona (consisting of Zed, Mara, Aerith Gainsborough, and Aladdin) as they walked upstairs to the Grand Hall. The number of worlds in the Coalition was growing day by day, and with each new world, there was one less place for Maleficent's cabal to hide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole plot for the Brave world is based on Merida's subplot in Once Upon A Time season 5, with an assortment of Kingdom Hearts twists. I quoted a bit of dialogue for some scenes, and let the characters' actions and personalities do the rest.


	54. Touch the Sky

#### DunBroch – Royal Bedchambers

#### July 23, 2015

"It's gotta be here somewhere," Queen Elinor whispered as she looked through her late husband's wardrobe for the enchanted helmet the witch had spoken of. Behind, her Merida walked slowly into the room. The off-worlders were searching the rest of the castle for other places where Fergus could potentially have left the helm.

"Ye won't find the helm here," the future queen said softly.

"I will if ya help me look," her mother snapped as she turned from the wardrobe and went to search another corner of her and Fergus' bedroom. "Check that sideboard," she instructed her daughter as she walked over to the window.

"No," Merida replied, turning to face her mom. "Ye won't find it because it's not here. I packed that's helm in dad's trunk me self when we went to fight off Maleficent's minions when they attacked the Dingwall clan."

"You mean…" her mother began, "he was wearin' it…"

"When he was killed," she finished sadly as her mother sat down in shock, sadness, and horror. "What was that witch on about when she said dad didn't know how to lead?" she asked as she sat down across from her mother. "What do you think the helm's magic did?"

"Well whatever it did," the older woman answered, "I'm sure Fergus had good reason for needin' it. But right now we have a more pressing question. If the helm's lost, what are we goin' ta do about the witch?"

"I didn't say it was lost," Merida replied with a smile. "I just said it wasn't here."

"Ye know where it is?" Elinor asked hopefully.

"After that man killed dad," the red-head began. "He took the helm, right there in the middle of the battlefield. But for either he didn't realize it was magic or he just decided at the last moment that he didn't want it, 'cause he threw it away. It's still there."

"No, Merida," her mother said bluntly, realizing where her daughter was going with this line of thought. "Absolutely not."

"I haven't even said anything yet," she retorted.

"But I know what you're thinking," Elinor replied. "You are not going back to that battlefield. Those monsters and their allies are still out there. This Maleficent's minions already took Fergus from me. I can't lose you too"

"If I don't find that helmet, my entire kingdom will be doomed," Merida said as she picked up her bow.

"Those people killed your father," her mom warned. "If they figure out his helm has magic, they'll come back to look for it, and they won't give it up without a fight when they find it."

"That's what I'm counting on," the young queen answered. "Because this time, my arrow won't miss. Don't worry about me, mum. I won't be going alone. Those off-worlders are after those monsters too. Most likely they'll all be coming with me whether I want them to or not." Elinor reluctantly agreed to that, and a short while later, Merida, Sora, Mulan, Donald, Goofy, and Shang rode out to the battlefield where the late King Fergus had been killed, hoping that they could find the helmet before Maleficent and her minions figured out what it was and came back for it.

"This is it," Merida said sadly as the group of six walked through the fields where only a few short weeks ago, her father had perished at the hands of one of Maleficent's allies. "This is where my dad died." After a few minutes of searching, they finally found the helm. Unfortunately, the instant they laid eyes on it, a swarm of Heartless appeared around them. Between the six warriors, the monsters were destroyed within minutes, but when they looked back to the tree the helm had been resting against it was gone.

"Did you lose something?" A familiar voice called out mockingly. Sora, Donald, and Goofy immediately, recognized who it was.  _So the Replica snatched the helmet while we busy with the Heartless, then,_ Sora realized as his best friend's clone emerged from a corridor of darkness. Having been given a description of the Organizaiton members by Mulan, Merida immediately drew an arrow and fired at Riku's doppelganger, making the first move so he didn't make it for them. Unfortunately for everyone, the Replica caught the arrow in his hand mere inches from his heart. Then in a blink of an eye, he vanished before plunging the arrow into Sora's shoulder.

"SORA!" Donald and Goofy shouted while the young Keyblade Master screamed in pain as he dropped to his knees. They quickly raced to the seventeen-year old's side while Merida, Shang, and Mulan readied their weapons.

"What was that for!?" Merida shouted as Donald yanked the arrow out of his friend's back and cast a Curaga spell on the wound, sealing it up and washing away the blood in seconds. "What do you want!?" She demanded. But instead of the clone, a woman's voice answered.

"I don't know what that pathetic imitation of a Keyblade Master wants, but I'm here for you father's helm, my dear," Maleficent said menacingly as she appeared in the air in a column of green fire.

"Why does everybody want that stupid helmet?" the young queen asked angrily as Goofy helped Sora to his feet while Donald and the other two off-worlders faced the dark fairy.

"You don't even know what the helmet does, do you?" The Replica asked as Merida lowered her bow, unwilling to trust the Nobody but curious to know just what was so important about the object that cost her father his life.

"It has the power to make other men fight your battles," Maleficent added, her usual smugness less pronounced than normal. "However dangerous they may be."

"You're lying!" Merida shouted back. "It can't be!

"Unfortunately, it is," Repliku commented. "And while it's only a back-up, it may still be necessary to keep those in the Organization who disagree with Xehanort's goals in line."

"Organization XIII tearing itself apart over infighting and double-crossing," Sora commented sarcastically. "Big surprise."

"So it seems the rumors that Terra flew the coup were true," Maleficent commented tauntingly, savoring the rare look of surprise on the face of any associate of Xehanort. "As I expected they were."

"WHAT!?" The Keyblade Master shouted, processing this all.  _If Terra broke free of Xehanort's control,_ he realized,  _then Xehanort has one less vessel, and we have one more ally._

"No!" Merida declared. "My dad would never use magic to force people to fight for him!"

"Well apparently your father wasn't the good king you thought he was after all," the green-skinned sorceress commented with a trace of sadness in her voice.

"Back off!" Mulan snapped, aiming her blade within inches of the replica's throat while Shang did the same for Maleficent. Suddenly, the Replica vanished before reappearing with Merida's bow in his hand.

"THAT BELONGED TO MY FATHER!" Merida screamed as she lunged at the Organization member.

"I know," the Replica taunted, "I figured it would make a nice trophy to bring back to the Castle That Never Was."

"BUT THAT BOW WAS THE LAST THING HE EVER GAVE ME!" The queen shouted with tears in her eyes.

"Well then you'll have to console yourself with memories," the dark Riku taunted. "And the knowledge of what a terrible ruler he turned out to be. See ya!" With that, the clone was gone through a corridor of Darkness with Maleficent hot on his heels. Merida angrily stormed back to where their horses had been tied up.

"Where are you going?" Sora asked as the red-head stormed back to her horse.

"Where do you think?" she retorted. "Home!"

"You can't just give up!" Mulan snapped. "What would your father say if he could hear you now?"

"I don't know, because he's DEAD! He isn't here because I did save him!" Merida shouted as she broke down from all the stress. Between saving her brothers and now the quest for the helm she hadn't really had a chance to properly grieve for her father, and she was letting it all out now. "And now I understand what the witch meant when she said my dad couldn't lead!" Merida snapped. "If he can't do it without magic, how can I?"

"Merida…" Mulan began.

"No!" the queen interrupted. "My father used dark magic to lead innocent men to their deaths. He died too. I won't let the kingdom suffer just to prove I can do what he couldn't."

"Wait a minute!" Sora shouted as a thought came to him. "Merida, don't go back yet. They don't have the real helmet! The witch said it "glistened like the sun". The helmet the Riku Replica had didn't even glisten at all! It was all rusted and worn. Your dad never wore it in that battle!"

"And the reason he took my bow is because he managed to get a tracking potion from the witch and he needs something that belonged to my dad in order to find the real helm!" Merida finished the thought as she dried her eyes. Her spirits lifted, the queen told everyone she realized where the helm was, and the group quickly split up. Sora, Donald, and Merida went after the helm while Mulan, Goofy, and Shang rode back to the castle to get reinforcements. They were going to get the helmet and save the kingdom, even if they needed to fight their way through both Maleficent and the Organization to do it.

* * *

#### DunBroch – Witch's Cottage

#### July 23, 2015

"I guess this is the witch's house," Goofy commented as he looked at the wide variety of cauldrons and bottles lying around the small cottage. "Looks like somebody already came through and trashed the place."

"My best guess says that this Replica either broke in to steal the locator potion when the witch wasn't home, or he threatened her into giving up what he needed," Mulan suggested as she, Goofy, and Shang turned around to leave. They'd stopped by the cottage to see if the witch could offer aid in the battle, only to find she wasn't home. As they walked towards their horses, they heard a growling noise and turned around to find two wolves trotting out of the cottage growling menacingly. Mulan and Shang drew their blades but Goofy took a good long look at the witch's guard dogs.

"You're not really wolves," he declared as the two canines pounced, pinning Mulan and Shang to the ground. "You just need help remembering who you are." Acting quickly, the anthropomorphic dog threw his shield at a cauldron lying on the ground near where Mulan and Shang were pinned, knocking the kettle to the ground and causing multi-color smoke to wash over the two wolves. From the smoke emerged two men Goofy was all too familiar with.

"Sorry about that," Ludor apologized as he stood up and helped Shang to his feet.

"Ludor," Terra warned as he reached out a hand and helped Mulan up. "That is the last time we go to that witch for help."

"Well, Terra," the Gambler of Fate replied. "How was I supposed to know that her idea of hiding us from Sephiroth was to turn us into wolves and make us be her guard dogs as payment?"

"You could have asked to read the fine print before we agreed to the deal," the Key Bearer retorted before turning to address the three warriors. "Sorry about that," he said sheepishly.

"Nice to finally meet you, Terra," Goofy replied as he shook the man's hand. "Mickey and Aqua have told me a lot about you." He then went on to introduce Terra to Mulan and Shang, and Terra in turn introduced them all to Ludor.

"Not all of it good, I'm sure," Terra replied sadly. "So what brings you all here to DunBroch? Expanding the Coalition, I take it?"

"Well that's what Mulan and Shang are here for," Goofy answered. "Sora, Donald, and I came to investigate because the previous king was killed by one of Maleficent's allies because of some magic helmet that can control people. And the Organization's looking for it too so they can use it to control you guys again."

"Great," Terra remarked sarcastically. "One more reason to get out of here before Sephiroth comes back to grab us."

"Hey, I've got an idea," Goofy offered. "Pride Land is one of those worlds where you change to match the inhabitants. Sora was still powerful as a lion but his skills and mobility were really limited to what a four-legged body could do. If Sephiroth follows you there…"

"He'll be weakened enough in whatever animal form he ends up with that it'll level the playing field," Ludor finished as the two fugitives followed the dog's train of thought. "Excellent. We need to get going before Sephiroth figures out we're here. Sorry we can't stay and help but we can't risk Sephiroth massacring everyone on this planet just to hunt us down." After Goofy promised to pass on a message to Aqua from Terra, the duo fled DunBroch through a Dark Corridor, heading for a world they'd never been to before outside of doing recon for the old Organization.

* * *

#### DunBroch – Sea Shores

#### July 23, 2015

"And what makes you think you should have this helmet?" the Riku Replica asked tauntingly as he waved the enchanted helm around in his hand. He tuned out the dark fairy's insults as he reflected on how he'd gotten here. He'd arrived on the shores of a nearby lake to find Maleficent levitating the helmet out of the water. Without preamble he warped around before snatching it from the witch's hands, and now he was taunting her, knowing that she'd been trying to avoid picking a fight with the Organization. He wasn't too concerned about Sora and the others interrupting. He'd sent out enough Heartless and Nobodies to make sure that he'd be long gone by the time the heroes finally got here.  _Unfortunately, that might not have been enough,_ he realized as a fire spell came out of nowhere and knocked the helmet out of his hands and into the forest.

"That doesn't belong to you," Merida declared as she, Sora, and Donald raced out of the trees to face the two.

"You don't know when to give up, do you little girl?" the Replica jeered, amused with the young queen's perseverance. Ignoring him, she turned her attention to the dark fairy standing near him.

"So you're Maleficent," Merida said as Mulan, Shang, and Goofy emerged from the forest to join them. "You're the one whose soldiers killed my father."

"Indeed I am," the dark sorceress replied smugly. Enraged, the queen drew her sword.

"Merida, stop," Mulan warned. "This isn't about revenge. This is about finding the helm and saving your kingdom."

"I know," Merida replied grudgingly. "I'm just glad that my dad never wore that helmet into battle. Those men followed him because they believed in 'im, not because 'e compelled them to."

"As touching as this family drama is," Maleficent cut in, "I need that helm."

"I'll do whatever it takes to stop both of you from leaving DunBroch with that helm," Merida warned as she and the two off-worlders prepared for battle. "My people are counting on me."

"So are mine," the clone replied as the battle began. Sora drew the attention from the Riku Replica while Donald and Merida focused on Maleficent.

"Make another move," A voice called out warningly. Maleficent and the Riku Replica turned to find arrows being pointed at them by the sons of Dingwall, MacGuffin, and Mackintosh. "And you'll look like a porcupine!" the heir of clan Mackintosh finished.

"One of those arrows bound to hit its mark," Merida warned with a smile as she retrieved her father's bow. "And even yer magic can't stop all of them," she said to Maleficent as more archers emerged from the trees. Realizing she was out-numbered and temporarily outmatched, the green-skinned sorceress disappeared in a burst of black smoke and green fire. Moments later, the Replica retreated through a Corridor of Darkness himself. As the two villains fell back, Merida dashed forward and grabbed the enchanted helmet before either villain could snatch it away.

"I wouldn't have the helm if it wasn't for ye," she told the soldiers as they all came down to greet her.

"We couldn't let our queen fall," the young man from the Mackintosh clan replied respectfully as he and all the other warriors kneeled before her.

"After all this, ya still want me to be your queen?" she asked cautiously. She'd recovered her self-confidence but was unsure of where the loyalties of the clans truly lied.

"Ye were willing to give up your life for the good of the kingdom," the Mackintosh heir replied. "I only ever saw one person ever make a sacrifice like that – Yer father. If ye're not fit to lead the clans, no one is." Merida smiled, and a short while later, everyone cheered as Merida was finally crowned queen of DunBroch. This time, when the witch returned at sundown, Merida was ready. When the witch demanded the helmet back, the new queen refused, announcing her intention to destroy the helmet, believing that nobody should have the power to make people fight for something they didn't believe in.

"I'll find another way to defeat your curse," Merida declared firmly. "But I will not be bullied into giving this back." To everyone's surprise, this was exactly what the witch wanted to hear. Apparently the entire thing was a test the witch set up at the request of King Fergus so that Merida would understand what it took to be a leader.

"Your magic's never very direct, is it?" Elinor asked impatiently, recalling the bear incident (which forced her and Merida to come to understand each other better) as she glared at the witch.  _Doesn't sound like it,_ Sora mentally agreed.

"It gets the job done," the elderly sorceress replied defensively. "I pride myself on satisfied customers." Before she left, the witch presented Merida with a coronation gift: magical ale that would allow her to talk to her father's spirit. After a few hours of festivities, Merida and her mother went outside to talk to King Fergus' ghost. Sora, Donald, and Goofy snuck out after the first couple hours (saying goodbye just before Merida went to use the ale to talk to her father) and set off for another world. Mulan and Shang stayed for the duration of the celebration, since after agreeing to bring DunBroch to the coalition, Merida had appointed her mother as her representative on the council. As they left, Sora felt an increasing sense of foreboding, as if the conflict with Xehanort and Maleficent was about to reach a boiling point.


	55. The Jungle

#### San Fransokyo – Akuma Island

#### July 23, 2015

"How's Project Dark Bot coming along?" Hades asked as he paced the laboratory. While Maleficent was popping over to DunBorch, he had volunteered to come check on the hamster-like alien's progress.

"Almost there," Hamsterviel replied. "Although if Yzma were here to help me it would go along much faster. But alas, she's off on some jungle world collecting DNA samples for her potion cabinet."

"How soon do you think until the project is ready?" the lord of the Underworld inquired, leaning against the wall of the lab. The sooner they could get this thing up and running, the better.

"A few days at most," the mad scientist replied. "Once it's ready I plan to test drive it out in the city. This "Big Hero 6" team has abilities close to base line fighting skills and combat magic. If the project can defeat them, then it will stand a chance against the so-called heroes of the Keyblade."

"Excellent," Hades exclaimed. "I'll pass along the good news. And Yzma's supposed to report back in in about a day or two, so things should speed along once she gets back. I gotta go check back in at HQ." With that, the Greek god warped back to Cable Town in a puff of fire and smoke. After so many weeks, all their planning and preparations were nearly complete. Once Xehanort was dead, they would finally be ready to strike.

* * *

#### The Jungle – Man Village

#### July 23, 2015

"So let me get this straight," Lea began, addressing the boy. "You were raised in the jungle. By wolves." He, Aqua, and Ven had arrived on this world because its lack of large cities made it an ideal place for Maleficent and her allies to hide equipment and supplies. They'd landed their ship further downriver on the edge of the jungle so it would stay hidden, and hiked down towards the village. Since this world was extremely small, the trio initially went with their pre-planned cover story rather than worry about giving them the big long-winded explanation of the Daybreak Coalition, figuring they'd tell the village leader, Nathoo, when it was necessary. Which they then did after he explained that the village had recently been attacked by "red devils" that matched the description of Maleficent's alien henchmen. He was a little skeptical about the whole story, but accepted their offer of help nonetheless. After that first meeting, they'd been introduced to the village leader's adopted son, a boy named Mowgli, who'd apparently been orphaned as a baby and raised by wolves.

"Yeah," the twelve-year-old replied, curious as to why the visitor was asking.

"And you wore that same piece of fabric for ten years, correct?" the red haired man asked again.

"I didn't start wearing them until after my pack taught me how to control my bladder," Mowgli answered with a chuckle as he realized that the man was incredulous as to how to he managed to keep his red loincloth clean without accidentally wetting himself in it.  _Come to think of it,_ Lea thought to himself as the pre-teen regaled the Key bearer with stories of his life in the jungle,  _the whole "raised by wolves" thing kind of reminds me of Roxas and Xion. Organization XIII certainly felt like a pack mentality at times. Xemnas was basically the Alpha wolf, Saix was directly beneath him on the social ladder, and all of us were beneath him. Roxas and Xion were the anomalies, the humans raised by wolves, the two unconventional Nobodies who were raised by the Organization (with me doing the heavy lifting as far as parenting was concerned) but were at the same time always different from the rest of us no matter how much they tried to be like everyone else._

As Mowgli finished telling the older man about the time he'd been faced the vicious tiger, Shere Khan, Aqua, Ventus, and Nathoo walked up. The three had spent the last hour discussing plans about bringing the village under the protection of the Coalition and packing supplies for a multi-day trek through the jungle to drive back Maleficent's foot soldiers. Mowgli had been eager to go with them, and finally managed to convince his adoptive father to let him tag along. He argued that 1) he had been raised by wolves and thus knew how to fight off any wild beast that meant him harm, 2) that the three visitors were obviously capable warriors and would protect him anyway, and finally 3) he grew up in the jungle and knew the terrain and geography better than anyone else in the village. After a lengthy argument, Nathoo finally agreed.

Realizing that there needed to be a Keyblade wielder in the village should the Heartless or Nobodies show up, Aqua asked Ven to stay behind. Although initially frustrated about being left behind, once Aqua explained why she needed him to stay , Ven agreed to remain and protect the village. Once they were all packed and ready, Aqua, Mowgli, and Lea set off into the jungle. Although Lea smirked when Mowgli stopped to say goodbye to a girl in a purple skirt on the way out of the village. Once they were out of sight from the river, Mowgli leaned back and let out a long, low howl, clearly attempting to communicate with his wolf family. He perked up when an answering howl echoed through the trees.

"We'll meet the pack at Council Rock," Mowgli said firmly as the howling faded. "They'll be able to point us in the right direction. With that, he took off into the underbrush, the two Key Bearers right behind him.

* * *

#### The Jungle – Council Rock

#### A few hours later

 _Sheesh,_ Lea thought to himself as he looked out at the assembled creatures.  _Looks like half the jungle showed up for this._ Despite a few Nobody and Heartless attacks along the way, he, Mowgli, and Aqua had reached Council Rock by nightfall. When they arrived they found not just the wolves, but the elephants, vultures, monkeys, and assorted other animal species waiting as well. Although Mowgli explained how he and his friend (more like future girlfriend in Lea's opinion) Shanti had helped improve relations between the human village and the different social groups of the jungle, tensions were still there, and everyone was hesitant to trust the two humans. Fortunately, because Mowgli vouched for them, their presence was at least tolerated. Aqua did most of the talking while the pack leader, Akela explained that the "red dogs", as they called Maleficent's shock troops, had taken up residence in a cluster of ancient ruins deep in the jungle. Lea was only half paying attention as the alpha wolf explained that the beasts had driven the monkeys out of their home in the process.

"Sounds like Maleficent's lackeys alright," Lea commented. Unfortunately this forced the man to give the animals a basic explanation of who Maleficent was. He left out everything to do with the Keyblade War, magic, other worlds, and all that, explaining that Maleficent was a powerful warrior who sought dominion over the entire world. This made it a lot easier for the animals to digest, since both he and Aqua figured that the entire story would be a little hard for them to comprehend in their terms. He did catch Mowgli raising an eyebrow during the entire story, as if he knew there was more that the red-haired man wasn't telling.  _He'll probably still have a hard time wrapping his head around all of it,_ the former Flurry of Dancing Flames thought to himself as Aqua continued talking with Akela about battle strategy. The so-called "red beasts", had killed or captured several animals since their arrival for no apparent reason, and everyone was eager to finally drive the monsters way from their part of the jungle once and for all.

After a lengthy discussion of what to do, Aqua and the pack eventually came to an agreement on how to approach the problem. The two Key bearers would attack the ruins form the main entrance, while the wolves and other animals would attack from the sides. The red monsters would be boxed in with nowhere to run. Lea and Aqua had no intention of killing the things, but they were definitely going to freeze them and bring them back to Disney Town or Radiant Garden for incarceration. Since the wolves were leading the way to the ruins, Mowgli stayed behind with a few others to protect the mothers and children of the different animal groups. At dawn, the group set off for the ruins. As they left, Lea looked back and saw that Mowgli had already started setting up defenses around the perimeter with the help of that bear, Baloo.

 _The kid's pretty good at surviving out here,_ the red-haired man thought to himself as he and Aqua followed Baghera the panther through the underbrush.  _He may be living with other humans, but from what I saw at the village the people there don't really accept him either. Sure that village leader accepted the kid with open arms, but I heard people whispering about him when he walked by. They see him as a wild child who doesn't know how to act civilized. But the wolves, and the elephants, and the vultures all treat him like one of their own, even when he's been living in that village for over a year._ And Lea could tell that given the choice between civilization and the untamed wilderness, Mowgli would choose the wilderness every time. He could tell just from what little he'd seen of the kid's behavior. In the village, he clearly had a few friends, but outside that small group he was obviously a bit of a loner.  _Kind of like me,_ Lea mused inwardly. By contrast however, the moment they stepped into the jungle, the kid's meek façade evaporated instantly. The jungle was his element, and it showed in how easily the "man-cub" navigated the maze of trees and shrubbery. How he could interpret what the howling of wolves meant, or track an animal based on smell.

Lea turned his thoughts back to the coming battle as he, Aqua, and Baghera made their way through the jungle. The three of them were roughly around the middle of the pack. The wolves charged ahead through the jungle. It would take until sunset to get to the ruins from Council Rock, so the Seeonee pack was scouting ahead while serving as the group's vanguard, while Colonel Hathi's elephant herd brought up the rear. As the humans and animals raced through the jungle, Aqua and Lea discussed what Maleficent was planning by setting up shop in this jungle. While the ruins were isolated, this world didn't offer her anything significant in terms of strategic value. So why her allies had chosen this world as a base of operations was a puzzle to them. One they hoped to have answered by the time her alien troopers had been rounded up and taken off to prison.

* * *

All through the night and day the miniature army stealthily crept through the jungle. Or tried to at least. The elephants preferred to stamp and crush their way through the underbrush, making it a bit harder for everyone to maintain the element of surprise. Because of this, the entire group was attacked by Heartless and Nobodies every few miles. By the time the sun set again, they had reached the outskirts of the temple ruins. On cue, the wolves surrounded the perimeter while the pachyderms stood ready to charge in and catch the Leroys off guard. Meanwhile, Aqua and Lea stealthily climbed to the top of one of the outlying structures in the area so they could scope out the camp's defenses. Once they did, Lea would light a fire on top of the building to signal that it was time to begin the attack.

When the two Key bearers looked down at the camp, Lea fought back the urge to vomit. Animal corpses had been piled up in the center of the ruins, almost as if they were meant as fuel for a bonfire. Realizing what the dead animals were for, Aqua looked around in horror at the red aliens cleaning up the blood near a table, where a pale woman in a long purple dress was prodding an Ocelot with syringes in multiple locations. When she was finished, the woman walked over and emptied the contents of the syringes into a single jar. Once the jar had been sealed, labelled, and placed in a storage trunk, the woman turned around. Picking up what the two heroes presumed to be a dagger, the woman walked back to the table and slit the feline's throat. Lea gagged as this woman casually ordered the alien troops to clean up the blood and add the body to the pile in the center, then light the bonfire.

 _No wonder all the animals want revenge,_ Aqua realized as she and Lea crept away from the edge.  _If they were being killed by humans, they wouldn't do anything because most humans only hunt these animals for food. But this… this torture and murder cannot be allowed to continued._ Aqua nodded to Lea, wordlessly instructing him to light the signal fire. As the flames rose into the night sky, a voice called out.

"Well, well," the woman remarked. "It looks like the Keyblade Wielders finally caught on to us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this 'verse, it's been two years since the end of the first movie and about a year since the end of the sequel. Some parts of the sequel are canon with this story (Shere Khan going Knight of Cerebus to get revenge on Mowgli, Mowgli being homesick, the Elephants and Baghera teaming up to stop Baloo from reaching the village, the vultures, the musical numbers, that kind of thing), some parts aren't (Kaa's exaggerated incompetence, the Elephants panicking when the humans come into the jungle looking for the kids, etc.) And some elements are entirely made up as part of my head-canons (Mowgli misses the wolf pack as much as he misses Baghera and Baloo and gets to visit them, his wolf parents and siblings come and stop by when he starts sneaking back into the jungle to visit everyone at the end of the movie, etc.)
> 
> The name Nathoo is a Mythology Gag to the original books. In the books, when Mowgli moves into the Man Village, he's adopted by a couple whose son was snatched away by a tiger (implied but not confirmed to be Shere Khan), and they believe that Mowgli is their amnesiac child, coming home to them at last (The books never give a definitive answer as to whether that's true, and one adaptation explicitly said it's not). I figured if I was going to give a character who was nameless in the movie a name, it should be something from the books that wasn't in the Disney movies.
> 
> Lea's comments about Mowgli are based on a combination of elements from the Jungle Book 2, the original books, and my own head-canonsabout how he'd do fitting in with other humans. It makes sense that because he was raised in the jungle he'd have trouble adjusting and fitting in to human society, despite how easily he made some friends in the sequel.


	56. Bear Necessities

#### The World That Never Was – Braig's Room

#### July 24, 2015

 _Time to get going,_ Braig thought to himself as he wrapped the tattered red scarf around his face over his eyepatch. He'd owned the old thing since his days as Ephemer. It had been a birthday gift from Emma. The Freeshooter fought back the urge to cry as he recalled the day the love of his life died. The day Ava was murdered. The day Atlantis sank. The day the Keyblade War began. He shuddered as he started flashing back to what had happened that day. First Ava died, and then Emma. Leopardos' betrayal. Being trapped in Atlantis as a massive tidal wave bore down on the island nation. The only thing that saved him from drowning was the timely intervention of King Triton. The sea king, disgusted by the power plays and infighting of the Keyblade unions, severed all ties with the surface. The only reason he'd saved Ephemer was as one final favor to Ava.

 _Can't say I blame him though,_ Braig thought as he continued applying makeup to his face and clothing so that when he arrived in the caves leading to the remnants of Atlantis, he would appear to be a lost, disheveled hiker.  _After all the chaos we caused, it's no wonder the worlds became the way they were. I keep forgetting that it was because nobody wanted to mess with Keyblade Wielders._  As he finished applying his makeup, he took one last look in the mirror before heading off. He told Xehanort that he was going to scout for potential backup vessels that didn't necessitate time travel to bring them into the fold. But in reality, he was heading off to the ruins of Atlantis. He knew the ancient civilization still existed, and he needed to talk to the king while he still had the chance.

Time was running out, and Xehanort was growing impatient as he dispatched his underlings to sew chaos and fear around the known worlds in order to strengthen the darkness until the Heartless were able to break through the barrier Yen Sid had set up around his castle. Braig would prefer to avoid revealing the fact that he knew how to break that particular spell, but if worst came to worst he would let a little forbidden knowledge slip in the name of finally stopping the Outcast.  _At least I'll get to try and reach Ava one last time,_ he hoped as he left the world in a dark corridor and found himself inside a large cavern, waiting for the princess of Heart to come nearer.

* * *

#### The Jungle – Temple Ruins

#### July 24, 2015

As soon as the words left the pale woman's lips, the battle began. With a trumpeting charge, Colonel Hathi and his elephants stormed into the ruins. The Leroys were caught off guard and scattered towards the jungle, only to run head first into the angry, vengeful wolf pack, along with every other justice-seeking carnivore in the jungle. Aqua and Lea quickly cast Blizzaga spells on a large cluster of the red aliens to limit the casualties. Even so, there was inevitably bloodshed as the carnivores tore into Maleficent's minions with their fangs and claws. As the Leroys fell Heartless and Nobodies began crawling out of the shadows, the death and anger of the aliens drawing them out like moths to a flame. While all of this was going on, the pale woman was frantically closing her cases and pitching them through Dark Corridors back to what was presumably Maleficent's lair. As she turned to retreat into the jungle, Aqua cornered the woman.

"You're outnumbered and surrounded," the blue-haired Keyblade Master warned. "Surrender now and we'll be merciful." She gestured at the pile of animal corpses. "What does Maleficent want in this jungle that requires torturing and killing animals in droves? What is she after?"

"My lips are sealed," Yzma replied mockingly as Aqua casually froze another cluster of Leroy troops.

"I may be merciful," Aqua warned before indicating the menagerie doing battle with the woman's guards. "But they aren't. You experimented on and killed their friends, loved ones…"

"They're just animals," Yzma halfheartedly tried to protest.

"They still have others that they care about," Aqua retorted, shutting down the woman's half-baked attempt to justify her actions. "And they are much less merciful than my fellow Key bearers and I are."

"You wouldn't dare…" Yzma gasped in shock at what the young woman was insinuating.

"Try me," Aqua replied bitterly with a hard glare on her face. She meant what she was implying. If this woman wouldn't give up the information she and Lea need, Aqua would let the law of the jungle decide her fate. While she wouldn't normally be so harsh, after what she'd seen Yzma had been doing, the Keyblade Master was not in a forgiving mood. The pale woman quickly spilled just enough of her secrets to avoid being thrown to the wolves. Apparently the woman brewed potions that transformed whoever drank them into animals. Maleficent needed predator potions to supply her armies, and to brew the potions, Yzma required a gene sample for each bottle she brewed. So the continued capture of local animals was used as a means of acquiring the tissue samples she needed en-mass.

Disgusted with the impossibly ancient woman's actions, Aqua froze Yzma into a block of ice before the potion brewer could flee. With Yzma out of the way, Aqua's attention returned to the battle, where Lea was using his pyrokinetic powers to tear the attacking Heartless and Nobodies apart before they could harm the local wildlife. In the blink of an eye Aqua leapt into the fray, freezing the last of the Leroys before moving on to help mop up the creatures of Darkness that remained. The battle ended just as the sun began to rise. After explaining what a Keyblade was to the assembled animals as best as they could, the two Key bearers assisted in giving the dead animals whatever passed for funeral rights in the jungle. After that, the animal army returned to Council Rock with the two Keyblade wielders in tow.

Once the group had returned to their staging area, Mowgli said goodbye to his jungle family before leading Aqua and Lea back to the "Man Village" as the jungle dwellers called the human settlement. Before they left however, Akela declared that the two Keyblade bearers and anyone who was a friend of theirs was welcome in the jungle. The entire population of the jungle was still wary over the whole magic aspect of the Keyblade, but after fighting in the battle all through the night, the two heroes had at least gained the trust of everyone who'd participated. The entire walk back (which included Lea carrying the frozen sorceress on his back), Mowgli pumped the two warriors dry for information about the Keyblade, and while they left out some parts (like the whole Xehanort conflict), they gave the kid enough to satisfy his curiosity. Upon their return to the small settlement, the villagers cheered and celebrated when they heard that the red monsters would not be troubling the land any longer. Aqua, Ven, and Lea snuck back to their Gummi ship just as a celebratory feast broke out. As they boarded their ship and set off through the Lanes Between once more, they were overcome with an intense feeling of dread, as if something terrible was about to transpire.

* * *

#### Radiant Garden – Gummi Hangar

#### July 24, 2015

"The Council approved Cassim's plan," Cid Highwind announced to the assembled soldiers and Gummi ship crewmen. "The mission is a go." A chorus of cheers immediately rose up from the crowd. After shouting for everyone to be quiet, the Gummi engineer continued. "Most of you already know the plan but for the sake of those who don't, listen up! I'm only gonna say this once! I'll be flying troops down to Agrabah on the Shera. Once I drop you all off, Cassim'll lead you in a surprise attack on the old lair of Agrabah's Forty Thieves while I provide air support. So let's pack up and go, people! I'm not getting any younger, here!" With another chorus of cheering, the strike team boarded Cid's Gummi Ship, named in honor of his wife, who'd died during the Fall over a decade ago.

Once the entire strike force was aboard and the crew Cid had hired for the trip were prepared for launch, the ship slowly glided out of the underground hangar hidden in the mountains outside the city before taking off into the sky for Agrabah. They'd been on the defensive against Maleficent for too long, now. It was finally time to take the fight to her. Down in the ship's hold, Cassim, Leon, Yuffie, Yao, Ling, Chien Po, and a small group of others sharpened their swords and checked their equipment to prepare for the coming battle. Leon and Yuffie chuckled a bit, envying that Sora, Donald, and Goofy would have the easy part in the two-pronged attack. The three heroes were being directed toward the world that was home to Maleficent's primary financial backer. All those three had to do was help overthrow the guy while the rest of them did all the dirty work of laying siege to an isolated cave with only two entrances.


	57. Sherwood Forest

#### Sherwood Forest – Forest

#### July 24, 2015

"So Maleficent has been using all the money Prince John collects from taxes to finance her army?" Little John asked as the group walked towards the archery tournament. Sora, Donald, and Goofy had been directed towards this world by Cassim, and raced over when they learned that one of Maleficent's allies had taken it over and was taxing the people to finance the dark fairy's empire. Upon their arrival, they bumped into Robin Hood and Little John. Although they'd passed wanted posters for the two fugitives on the way, the three heroes already knew from Cassim that they were the good guys, stealing gold from the villainous prince and his thugs and giving it back to the people who needed that money in order to feed their families and keep a roof over their head.

"Unfortunately," Sora answered sadly as his tail brushed against his leg. Sherwood Forest had turned out to be another world where the magic in their clothes changed their appearance on arrival. Donald and Goofy were actually unchanged, but Sora now resembled an anthropomorphic version of his lion form in the Pride Lands, only with a more human face. Once they'd gotten acquainted with the two rogues and explained why they were there, the quintet made their way towards the field where Prince John was hosting an archery tournament, with a kiss from Robin's old flame, Marian, as the grand prize. Eager to see the girl he loved again, the fox had decided to enter the tournament incognito after finally being convinced to confess his true feelings for Marian.

By the time they arrived, Robin and John had prepared their disguises for the event. After overhearing Marian talking to her lady-in-waiting about him, the rogue fox stepped out of the bushes dressed as a stork, while John walked over to the royal booth masquerading as a nobleman to distract the Prince. Sora, Donald, and Goofy made their way towards the stands where all the others animals were gathered to watch the stadium while Robin tested his disguise against the local Sheriff who was one of the prince's main thugs. Sora chuckled as he overheard Robin flattering the pudgy wolf with false praise. The disguise was working. As they walked past Prince John's tent a minute later, a talking snake slithered out mumbling and complaining about how casually he'd been dismissed. Clearly Little John's disguise had fooled the greedy prince.

"He's definitely up to something," Sora commented as the snake slithered away. With a nod to Donald and Goofy, the three heroes quietly followed the snake to make sure he didn't expose Robin Hood. As they looked around to find where the serpent had slithered off to, the archery tournament began in the background. As the contestants paraded in front of the royal observation tent, Sora spotted Prince John's serpentine minion hiding inside a cluster of balloons that a dog on crutches was holding as he gave them out to the children attending the event. The snake breathed to blow up the balloon his head was in before using his tail as a propeller to move through the air while the rubbery balloon kept him aloft. Sora and his friends followed the flying reptile as he flew around the field, looking down at the parade of archers.

"The tournament of the golden arrow will now begin!" announced an alligator as the elephants perched atop the stone towers began to trumpet with their trunks. The trio cheered and clapped with everyone else when the contestants all started shooting. Only a few people managed to hit the targets, and of them, only Robin was good enough to hit a perfect bulls-eye. After the second round of shooting (in which Robin scored another bulls-eye), the snake got a good look under the tail feathers of the "stork" competing in the archery tournament. As the snake flew off to alert Prince John of Robin Hood's presence in the tournament, Sora threw his Keyblade at the snake's balloon and popped it, sending the serpent tumbling to the ground. Before the reptilian spy could get away, Sora grabbed him and stuffed him in a nearby barrel before sealing it up with a cork.

Their work done, the three heroes returned to the stands just as the alligator announced that the Sherrif and the "Spindle-legged stork" were the final contestants of the tournament. Everyone jeered when the Sheriff clearly cheated to make a bulls-eye, and the three off-worlders joined in the cheering when the "stork" managed to not only hit the bulls-eye even after the sheriff sabotaged him, but tore the smug canine's arrow to shreds in the process. But the laughter died down as the Rhinoscerous guards followed Robin as he made his way towards Marian.  _It's a trap,_ Sora realized as he and his friends immediately started moving toward the tent.

After a grandiose, exaggerated speech proclaiming the stork the winner of the contest, the villainous feline unmasked Robin Hood by cutting through his costume with a sword.

"Seize him," the prince casually ordered before the Rhinos quickly began to tie the fox up. Once Robin was tied up, Prince John sentenced the rogue to immediate execution. Marian immediately started tearing up as she begged her uncle to spare the fox. After the two foxes confessed their love for each other, Prince John ordered the execution of the thief anyway, calling him a traitor to the crown.

"That crown belongs to King Richard," Robin Hood retorted angrily. "Long live King Richard!" Immediately the cry echoed across the tournament field. Despite Donald's protests even Sora joined in, having been informed of how Prince John had usurped the throne from his older brother Richard, who unlike his greedy brother actually cared about the needs of the people. Apparently the snake, Sir Hiss, had hypnotized Richard into going off on some wild goose chase.

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" The usurper declared after silencing the protests with his temper tantrum. But before the executioner could reach the fugitive, the prince quickly ordered the executioner to stop and "hold his ax." Confused, Sora, Donald, and Goofy sneaked around the back of the tent to find Little John threatening the prince with a dagger in order to make him release the heroic fox. The trio walked back to the front of the tent in time to find the newly freed Robin Hood hugging Marian. Unfortunately, the Sheriff of Nottingham had discovered the rotund bear's meddling, leading to a duel that forced Little John to release the feline prince from his dagger.

"KILL HIM!" Prince John roared. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! KILL HIM!" And everyone sprang into action. Little John raced out and handed Robin the sheriff's sword before they joined Sora, Donald, and Goofy in fighting off the Rhinoceros troops. As the battle intensified, Lady Cluck, Marian's handmaiden, ordered the girl to flee, declaring that this was "no place for a lady" before promptly diving into the fray herself. As Marian fled the battle, some of the guards went after her, but Robin quickly swept her out of their reach. Her lover proposed to her right then and there as he swatted aside axes and spears with his sword.

 _This is insane,_ Sora thought to himself with a loud cackle as he, Donald, and Goofy quickly dealt with most of the guards. Over in the royal tent, Robin Hood and Marian were discussing their honeymoon plans in the midst of fighting off weasel soldiers, while over in one of the other tents, Little John and Lady Cluck had herded some of the guards into the tent and started a brawl with everyone blindly beating each other up inside the unlit tent. The teen laughed some more when every time Little John ran into the brawl, Lady Cluck got knocked out the other side, and vice versa.

Eventually, Lady Cluck stabbed one of the guards in the rear with the golden arrow trophy she'd retrieved from the royal tent at the start of the battle. This caused every guard in the tent to start running in the same direction, taking the entire tent with them.

"Who's driving this flying umbrella!?" Little John shouted as the moving tent stampeded through the area while everyone else scrambled to get out of its way. While all of this chaos was happening around them, the two newly engaged foxes were cheerfully discussing how many kids they'd have while Robin dueled the alligator from earlier and Marian threw pies at the vulture trying to hit her fiancé with a crossbow. That duel ended when the "flying umbrella" came through and trampled the two villains. Eventually, the sheriff got stuck to the front of the moving tent as it plowed through one of the stone towers on the edge of the field.

Sora couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of the situation as Lady Cluck smacked the corrupt prince over the head with the golden arrow as Marian, Robin Hood, and Little John retreated into the forest.

"SEIZE THE FAT ONE!" Prince John ordered, causing Sora to laugh even more as the rotund hen single handedly defeated all of the remaining soldiers with almost no effort. Everyone cheered as the energetic chicken took down multiple Rhinoceroses with the ease of a wrestler. Sora final managed to stop giggling at the insanity of what had just happened as they joined the group in heading back into the woods.

"LONG LIVE KING RICHARD!" Lady Cluck shouted defiantly behind the three heroes before Little John pulled her pack into the trees before she could be hit by arrows from the guards.

* * *

#### Agrabah – Gummi Ship Shera

#### July 24, 2015

"Are we ready?" Yuffie Kisaragi asked as the Shera flew across the oceans of Agrabah, gliding a few hundred feet above the clouds. The ninja glanced over at Leon to make sure he'd heard her.

"Almost," the man answered. The plan of attack was deceptively simple. Leon and Yuffie would lead a small strike team of combat-ready Restoration Committee members in parachuting down to the ledge where the Forty Thieves used to hold their initiation ritual, and from there sneak in through the cave's back door and draw the villains' attention towards the infiltration team. Meanwhile Cassim would lead a platoon of soldiers from various Coalition member worlds in a frontal assault on the lair's main entrance. Easy enough in theory. Whether it would be that simple in practice was yet to be determined.

Once everyone on the strike team had adjusted their wing chutes (brought over from the Grid in preparation for the attack because ordinary parachutes were a bit too conspicuous), Leon pressed a button on the wall of the Shera's cargo hold. A warning klaxon blared as the boarding ramp lowered, revealing nothing but clouds beneath the ship. With a nod to the rest of the group, Leon took a running jump off the ramp and spiraling down through the clouds. Yuffie, Barret, Lightning, and Vincent followed shortly afterward. One after the other they all dove down towards the mountain below.

As they fell through the clouds, Leon reflected on his life up to that point. He'd only been sixteen when Radiant Garden fell. Before The Fall, he'd always been a bit of an introvert. He never really hung out with the other kids, but when the Heartless came, he rose to the occasion. That dark day was not one he wanted to remember. He and his parents had been evacuating the city under the protection of the few royal guards who remained along with a bunch of other families. The Kisaragis, the Gainsboroughs, the Strifes, plus a few others. When the Heartless attacked, he and the other kids were the only survivors of that group. Yuffie, Aerith, Cloud. The ones who would become his surrogate family over the years. He shivered in spite of the sweltering Agrabah heat as he recalled his horror at watching his parents get consumed by the Heartless while he and the rest of the strike team rapidly approached the top of the clouds.

He unconsciously brought his hand to his face to touch the scar he'd received that day. When he'd picked up a fallen guard's gun-blade and tried to fight the Heartless, only to receive a claw swipe to the face for his troubles. If it hadn't been for the intervention of a spear-wielding Cid Highwind, he and the other kids would have joined their parents in whatever place people's souls go to when their hearts are devoured by the Darkness. Even though he'd had no fighting experience or any weapon capable of stopping the Heartless, he blamed himself for failing to save his parents. That was why he cast aside the name Squall Leonhart and became just Leon. But the only that that rivaled the trauma of his parents' death was that until a year ago, he thought that his long-time girlfriend, Rinoa, had died in the chaos. For ten years his guilt and regrets warred within his heart as he and the other Radiant Garden survivors grew up on the streets of Traverse Town.

Then once they started rebuilding their world, he got a letter. A letter from Rinoa, letting him know she was alright, but was stranded on a world that was so far from Radiant Garden that the stars were completely different. The world had a decent level of technology, but since they didn't have Gummi Ships, she was trapped there. In her letter, she told him about how, realizing that she was stuck on this isolated world, she'd started building a life for herself there. His heart ached at the fact that she was alive but unreachable, even when she joined up with that world's defense agency in the hopes of finding her way off world someday. Most of the survivors of the Fall had made their way home by now. Except for her. And he wouldn't go back to being Squall until she was home, safe and sound.

He returned his attention back to the present just as the strike team reached the point where they needed to pull their chutes in order to land safely. In the blink of an eye, the five warriors deployed their Wing Chutes, reducing their rapid downward acceleration to a gentle glide. As silent as a grave, the five warriors stealthily touched down in the small temple courtyard at the top of the mountain. Disengaging their chutes, Leon motioned for the others to follow him as they quickly made their way downstairs toward the entrance leading back into the main cave. When they arrived to find the entrance blocked by a heavy metal door, the twenty-six year old survivor gestured for everyone to back against the walls on either side of the door. Once everyone was hidden, he stretched out his arm and knocked on the door.

Nobody dared breathe as the door opened and one of Maleficent's alien soldiers emerged from it. Leon knocked it unconscious instantly with a swift kick to the head and left behind a lit Blizzaga bomb from Halloween town to keep it from escaping or sounding the alarm. With practiced ease, the group crept down the hallway, closing the door behind them. The battle had begun.


	58. Ooh-De Lah-Lee

#### Sherwood Forest – Nottingham Castle

#### July 25, 2015

"Did you say Friar Tuck?" Prince John asked his servant for confirmation. In the last twenty-four hours, Prince John drastically increased taxes on his subjects to the point where entire families were being thrown into prison because they couldn't meet his impossibly high demands. Sir Hiss had just reported that Friar Tuck had been arrested for assaulting the Sheriff when the corrupt wolf took money from the church's poor box.

"Did I?" the snake answered nervously, cowering in fear. "Yes I did."

"Aha!" the villainous lion exclaimed as he walked over to the window. "Hiss, I have it! I'll use that fat Friar as bait to trap Robin Hood."

"Another trap?" the serpentine servant inquired meekly, recalling how well the last trap had gone yesterday.

"Yes, yes, you stupid serpent," the usurper replied excitedly while leaning against the windowsill. "Friar Tuck will be lead to the gallows in the village square don't you see?"

"But sire!" the snake gasped. "Hang Friar Tuck!? A man of the church?"

"Yes, my reluctant reptile," Prince John answered with a maniacal laugh as he opened the window. "And when our elusive hero tries to rescue the corpulent cleric, my men will be ready."

"They had better be," a woman's voice called out. Sir Hiss looked frantically around the room, but there wasn't anyone there. Suddenly, there was a burst of green fire in the center of the room, and the cowardly serpent was faced with a woman with green skin, horns on her head, and long black robes.

"No need to fear, Maleficent," the prince commented reassuringly. "This time Robin Hood will die."

"That's what you said about your last trap, and I can tell from your attitude how well that turned out," the dark fairy retorted. "Yzma never returned from the Jungle. We are losing ground and if we are to survive, we are going to need gold to acquire more facilities."

"Have no fear," the cowardly lion replied. "I have drained my kingdom of its gold. We need only transport it to Agrabah for storage. Once Robin Hood and those silly heroes have been dealt with, we can convert my castle into your new base."

"Which ones?" the green-skinned sorceress demanded. If Keyblade Wielders had come to this world, their plans for Sherwood Forest were already lost.

"Some human/lion hybrid with spiky brown hair and a giant key," John answered casually. "Along with a duck and dog. A most peculiar menagerie, I must say."  _Sora, Donald, and Goofy, then,_ Maleficent realized before quickly deciding on her next course of action.

"I want the gold in Agrabah before dawn," she barked. "Once that's taken care of, meet me in San Fransokyo."

"What!?" the self-serving feline protested. "But my kingdom…"

"Is already lost," the horned woman interrupted. "Your best option is to withdraw while you still have the chance."

"Alright, alright," Prince John responded lazily. "I'll get everything ready. I'll move the gold once my trap for Robin Hood has been sprung."  _So that's how it's going to be then?_ Maleficent thought as she narrowed her eyes at the feline.  _Alright, it's his choice. As long as I get the gold, he can stay here and rot for all I care._

"Very well," she answered angrily. "But allow me to warn you: do not underestimate those three. It will be your undoing if you do." She returned to Cable Town before the immature lion could protest.  _This will end badly for that inept prince,_ she thought to herself as she walked through her Corridor of Darkness.  _Fortunately, that's what backup plans are for._

* * *

#### Sherwood Forest – Outskirts of Nottingham

#### July 25, 2015

"We've got to do something!" Sora exclaimed when Robin Hood delivered the news that his friend, Friar Tuck, had been arrested and was going to be executed at dawn. After a lively celebration the night after the archery tournament, the villagers of Nottingham all went back to their houses just as Prince John brought the hammer down.

"I agree," Goofy spoke up. "The raid in Agrabah starts in a few hours. The jailbreak would be the ideal time to get Prince John off the throne and free this world from Maleficent's influence."

"Now hold on a minute," Little John interjected. "If King Richard doesn't come back soon, who's gonna rule the kingdom once Phony Prince John's been overthrown?"

"Marian could do it!" Robin Hood suggested. "She's King Richard's niece, so she has the authority to keep things running 'till her uncle comes back." With the plan set, Robin went to talk to Marian while Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Little John geared up for the jailbreak. Little John protested the odds against them, but Robin Hood reminded the bear that they had to do something or else the badger died at dawn. Shortly before three in the morning, the five animals (or human-turned-animal in Sora's case) snuck over the walls of the castle. After binding and gagging one of the sheriff's vulture minions, Robin was able to lull the sheriff to sleep and steal his keys while disguised as the guy they'd tied up.

Within a few minutes, Goofy and Little John were quickly inserted into the prison with the sheriff's keys for the jailbreak while Sora, Donald, and Robin Hood snuck inside the castle itself to take back the peoples' money.  _Assuming that Maleficent hasn't already taken it back to Agrabah,_ Sora thought nervously as the team crept through the shadows of the castle. A few minutes of stealth, parkour, and Flowmotion later, and the trio found themselves standing on a ledge overlooking the prison and situated directly beneath the balcony of Prince John's bedroom. Using Sora's parkour skills and some rope, they soon entered the greedy prince's room to find him asleep on his bed, surrounded by hundreds of sacks full of gold.

While Robin Hood and Little John stealthily set up a pulley system to carry the bags of money over to the prison, Sora and Donald quietly snuck through the castle to check for any more of the people's gold. When they found none, they realized that Maleficent likely had John send most of it to her hideout in Agrabah.  _Hopefully what we can give the people here back tonight will be enough for now,_ Sora thought to himself as he and Donald made their way back to the prince's bed chambers.  _At least until the Agrabah team can ship the rest of their gold back here._  When they returned to the royal bedroom, Robin Hood directed the two off-worlders to head down to the ground and guard the fleeing townspeople as they escaped the jail. As they lead the crowd out of Nottingham's castle, they immediately snapped to attention when they heard the wailing of the prince.

"Guards! Guards!" the crybaby shouted. "My Gold!" Little John continued to lead the people of Nottingham out of the castle, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy couldn't help but notice something familiar happening to the Prince. As he shrieked and tried to hang onto the pulley, the lion prince was coated in an aura resembling black smoke.  _Darkness,_ Sora realized.  _Meaning that soon there's going to be a lot of…_

"Heartless!" Donald shouted as the familiar forms of the heart-stealing monsters began appearing on the ground and in the air. Knowing what they had to do, the three heroes put themselves between the fire themed Heartless and the fleeing villagers. The battle was on.

* * *

#### Agrabah – Lair of the Forty Thieves

#### July 24, 2015

 _This is it,_ Yuffie thought to herself as the group split up to complete their objectives. Leon and Lightning went to eliminate security measures in the cave's main entrance while she, Vincent, and Barret made their way towards the main treasure room to cause as much chaos as they possibly could. As she and her two combat partners snuck through the network of tunnels that comprised the lair of Agrabah's infamous Forty Thieves (or used to at least. Apparently they'd all been wiped out by the time Maleficent's inner circle moved in), she thought back at how far her life had come. She'd only been seven years old when Radiant Garden fell, and the horrors of that fateful day still haunted her even now.

 _At least I never had it as bad as Cid did,_ she reflected as she and her team made their way through the catacombs of the mountain.  _He and his wife had been fighting about something stupid right before the attack happened, and she was one of the first casualties. He still beats himself up over the fact that the last conversation he ever had with her was an argument. Our first few days in Traverse Town, he felt like a piece of trash because the last time he'd ever gotten to see her, they'd both been angry with each other._ She could never remember exactly what they were angry about, though. Something about Ansem's apprentices setting up a space exploration program and Cid volunteering to be their first test pilot. Shera didn't want her husband to risk his life on something that might blow up and kill him. They argued about it for days. And then the Heartless came.

 _After the Heartless,_ the "Great Ninja" mused as the three warriors neared the top of the mountain,  _he loaded us all into the same untested Gummi Ship he'd been arguing with his wife about, and brought us straight to Traverse Town. After that, he took us all in. We all became like one big family in Traverse Town. For some of us, Cid was like a surrogate father figure, and to the rest, he was the protective older brother._ Although Cid was old enough to be her father, Yuffie viewed the Gummi engineer as being more of the latter. Yuffie shook her head to clear her thoughts and focus back on the present as her team reached the main chamber. She looked down and checked her watch before holding up her fingers to her teammates and started to count down.

When the countdown reached zero, the three Restoration Committee members charged into the upper treasure room guns blazing (in Barret's and Vincent's cases at least. Yuffie's shuriken couldn't really blaze since she wasn't good at combat magic outside of basic healing spells). The two men blasted at the guards while the lone young woman in the group threw her shuriken like a boomerang before switching into hand-to-hand combat mode. As the skirmish began among the piles of gold coins, they all felt a deep rumbling in the floor. The lair's main entrance was being opened from the outside.  _Now it's time to really get this party started,_ Yuffie thought to herself as she kicked a tall skinny man before catching her shuriken and throwing it back into the fray.

* * *

#### Sherwood Forest – Prince John's Castle

#### July 26, 2015

"Everybody! This way!" Robin Hood called out as he led the citizens of Nottingham out the gates of the castle. While Robin and Little John took care of the villagers, Sora, Donald, and Goofy continued to battle the fiery monsters to keep them from following the townspeople. Sora threw his Keyblade at one before turning around as he summoned the mystical weapon back to his hands and cast Blizzaga on the flaming Heartless. As that battle raged on, the fleeing critters loaded themselves and their money all into one large cart while Robin lowered the drawbridge. The off-worlders finished off the last of the Heartless just as Little John and Friar Tuck pulled the fully loaded cart out of the castle.

But before the three heroes could follow the group, they heard one of the rabbit children calling out for help. Spurred on by a child in danger, Goofy raced over and picked up the bunny toddler, carrying the little girl right back out the gates. Unfortunately, Sora, Robin, and Donald weren't as fleet footed as Goofy was at the moment, and didn't make it back before Prince John's troops cut the ropes holding up the main gate, trapping the three of them inside. Worse still, the collective anger of Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottigham was strong enough to summon a gigantic Heartless. Sora and Donald immediately charged the beast while Robin scrambled up the castle towers to get away from the guards.

As the Key bearer and the magician battled the Heartless, the tower into which Robin Hood and the Sheriff had gone quickly went up in flames. The inferno was only exacerbated when the dragon-like Heartless breathed fire on the castle. Realizing that they needed to find Robin and get out before the whole place burnt to the ground, Sora and Donald swiftly finished off the gigantic monster just as the foxy felon emerged onto one of the castle spires as the flames consumed the building.

"KILL HIM!" Prince John roared as the outlaw dove off the tower into the castle moat. While Robin dodged the raining arrows from the castle parapets, Sora and Donald quickly vaulted over the walls and into the moat themselves. Their hearts sank as they surfaced to find Little John pulling a wounded Robin Hood from the water. The three heroes helped the bear carry his friend to safety as Prince John's soldiers poured out of the castle gates to pursue the fugitives. After eluding their pursuers, the group took rescue in Friar Tuck's church, where Marian, who'd been waiting there since the jailbreak began, tended to her fiancé's injuries.

While Little John left to get medical supplies to properly treat the fox's injuries, Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood guard in case the soldiers managed to pick up their trail. Their fears were confirmed when Prince John himself barged in with Sir Hiss by his side. But before the usurper could say or do anything, Sora quickly cast a Sleep spell on the leonine prince and his serpentine lackey before binding and gagging the both of them. A few minutes after they finished detaining the dictator and his second-in-command, King Richard himself walked into the room, having shaken off Hiss' hypnosis and newly returned from his "crusade". The king was furious with his younger brother's actions, and after hearing from Sora about John's dealings with Maleficent, readily pledged his support to the Coalition.

"But what of all the money stolen from my kingdom?" he asked as he swiped his crown from off his brother's head, concerned that John's alliance with the dark fairy had left the kingdom broke.

"Some of it was saved tonight," the Keyblade Master reassured. "As for the rest, Coalition forces are conducting a raid on the facility Maleficent's allies are using to store all that stolen money as we speak. Once Maleficent's troops have been driven out, all the gold there will be sent back to the worlds it came from."

"That's good to hear, lad," King Richard replied. Once Little John returned with the medical supplies, the mice living in the church quickly pathed Robin Hood up so that he was as good as new. Incidentally, Prince John woke up around the same time as Robin Hood and started raving about meeting Maleficent in a world called "San Fransokyo," before panicking at the sight of his older brother. Once the Prince John, Sir Hiss, and the Sheriff had been safely incarcerated and Robin had recovered enough to walk, Sora, Donald, and Goofy said goodbye before beaming back to their Gummi Ship. From the sound of things, this "San Fransokyo" was where Maleficent's main stronghold was located, so that was where they would head next. Once Maleficent was no longer an issue, the Keyblade wielders would be able to focus on putting all of their efforts into the fight against Xehanort.

* * *

#### Agrabah – Lair of the Forty Thieves

#### July 24, 2015

"All clear!" Aeleus shouted as the main battle group dispatched the last of Maleficent's troops.  _That witch is almost as big a problem as Xehanort,_ he thought to himself as he quickly drank a Potion to heal what little battle injuries he had.  _The only reason Xehanort is the bigger threat is because he wants to destroy all reality, whereas Maleficent just wants to conquer it. Both are despicable, but Xehanort's racks up a little higher on the severity scale._ The Organization's former number V returned his focus to the vast chambers full of gold hidden within the mountain before ordering the troops to begin packing up all the riches to transport back to their original world. That part was fairly easy since most of the gold coins were engraved with the same symbol, indicating that they all came from the same world, so all they had to do was bag them all up together.

"That was an interesting experience," Captain Phoebus commented as he walked up carrying a sack that sounded like it was full of gold coins.

"Agreed," Aeleus replied with a nod as the two walked through the tunnels up to the temple on top that had been set up as a loading area for the Shera. Given the amount of gold and other treasures in the cave system, two more Gummi Ships were being sent from Disney Town since the Shera wasn't big enough to carry it all. As they walked through the catacombs for their next trip, they passed Mulan, Shang, Yao, Ling, and Chen Po at work bagging more of those gold coins in one of the smaller chambers off the main tunnel.  _This might take a while,_ the former Nobody realized as he and Phoebus started working on the next load.  _Hopefully everything went well for the Keyblade Wielders. We've struck a major blow against the witch's cabal, but she's far from finished._

* * *

#### San Fransokyo – Akuma Island

#### July 26, 2015

"We've lost both Sherwood Forest  _and_ Agrabah!" Maleficent fumed when she received news of the attack. "Our only source of income is gone! Not to mention all the troops captured by Coalition forces! ARGH!"

"Maleficent, darling," Hades reassured in an attempt to calm the dark sorceress down. "We'll rebuild like we always do. We're like a hydra. Cut off a head and two more grow back. Cruella's thugs didn't have any vital information, and the Leroys can't even speak. Despite the reduction in manpower, our secrets are safe." This seemed to calm the green fairy down a bit, and Hades leaned in to give his lover a kiss.

"Alright," she acquiesced once they came up for air. "We do have enough contingencies for these situations anyway, I just wish we didn't have to suffer so many losses consecutively."

"I know," the lord of the dead replied. "Nobody likes having plans go awry, but that's what backups are for. Hamsterviel already knows all the protocols for what to do if Keyblade Wielders or the Coalition show up in San Fransokyo, and unlike that imbecile of a prince, the gerbil's smart enough to follow through with them. So, what next?"

"Next we return to Cable Town," Maleficent answered. "Should San Fransokyo fall into the hands of the heroes of light, we will need our extra bargaining chips more than ever. Speaking of which, how is that going by the way?"

"Last I heard from your feathered friend, he was headed for Pride Lands, the Greek deity responded. "He thought that the two fugitives will go somewhere with a form shift that will take away Sephiroth's advantage. He's due to report back to Cable Town in the next day or two for a status update. In the meantime, Hamsterviel's finished the containment devices, which have already been transported back to Cable Town."

"Good," she remarked. "Let's head back there then. I need some rest after all that travelling."

"Before we go, I have a question to ask," Hades interjected, acting a little uncharacteristically nervous and fidgety. "We've known each other for a long time and we've been attracted to each other for almost as long, and after getting to know each other better, I just want to ask, Maleficent…" he got down on one knee. "Will you become my queen of the underworld?" he asked as he pulled out a small velvet box and opened it to reveal a ring with a crystal carved into the shape of a skull. In a rare moment, Maleficent was rendered unable to speak. To simply say she was speechless would be an understatement. So she gave her answer in a way he'd understand. She pulled him up off his knees and kissed him, sliding the ring onto her finger with her free hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way the story plays out with Robin Hood being wounded is based on an alternate ending for the movie that never made it past the storyboard phase. When Prince John finds Robin and Marian at the church, he attempts to murder Robin Hood right then and there, only to be stopped by King Richard showing up. The storyboards and dialogue for the alternate ending were included on the movie's Most Wanted Edition DVD re-release.


	59. San Fransokyo

#### The World That Never Was – The Grey Area

#### July 26, 2015

"We've pinned down the location of one of Maleficent's primary bases," Xemnas reported to his original self as he stood in the Grey Area. "What should we do?"

"Take some Heartless and Nobodies to sweep the world until you find the base," Master Xehanort answered after taking a deep breath. "Do not stop until you find them."

"Very well," the Superior replied. "And what is to be done on the project should Sora interfere?"

"Nothing for now," the old Keyblade Master said ominously. "The Replica's attempt to draw out Vanitas by angering Sora through physical injury failed. If we are to retrieve my thirteenth vessel, we must do it the hard way."

"As you wish," the old man's Nobody said before leaving for San Fransokyo in a corridor of Darkness. There was work to be done. The completion of Master Xehanort's plans were almost upon them, and all of the pieces were slowly but surely falling into place.

* * *

#### Pride Lands – Savannah

#### July 26, 2015

"This place is fun," Ven commented as he practiced walking around on all fours, experimentally twitching his lion tail as he did so. Behind him, Aqua and Lea were busy getting used to their new feline forms as well. After dropping Yzma off in Radiant Garden for interrogation, Goofy had informed the three Keyblade wielders that Terra and Ludor had been discovered and were on the run. After being told that the two fugitives were headed for the Pride Lands, the trio quickly set off for the jungle world at once, hoping to bring the duo back to safety before either Xehanort or Maleficent captured them. Once they'd adjusted to their new forms, they headed for Pride Rock to ask King Simba if he'd seen either Terra or Ludor. Hopefully they were still here and could be brought home in time.

Meanwhile, the duo in question were locked in combat with the notorious One-Winged Angel in the middle of the nearby Wildebeest Valley. Or in this case, One Winged Lion. As predicted, being trapped in a four-legged body had drastically limited Sephiroth's powers, allowing the two fugitives to even the odds.  _Which is exactly what we need,_ Terra thought to himself as he bit into the assassin's left foreleg with a snarl. Sephiroth's reflexes, however, were not affected by his new body, and he quickly swatted the Key bearer across the face with his paw, knocking him loose. As soon as Terra released his grip on Sephiroth, Ludor charged in and sank his claws into the demon's wing. Sephiroth roared in pain before shaking off the Gambler of Fate, only to be blindsided when Terra lunged at him from the side. Ludor grinned triumphantly as he got back to his feet. After running from the monster for so long, now they stood a chance at defeating him once and for all.

* * *

#### San Fransokyo – City Streets

#### July 26, 2015

"How are we going to find Maleficent's lair in a city this big?" Donald wondered aloud as he, Goofy, and Sora wandered the streets of this new world, San Fransokyo. They'd been looking high and low for the sorceress's lair, and so far they hadn't even found a single trace of the villains. After a while, they took a break from their search to find lunch. After a long debate between Sora and Donald over where to eat, Goofy broke the impasse by choosing a quiet little restaurant nearby called The Lucky Cat Café. The three heroes walked inside and sat down. As they ate, they quietly began discussing places in the city where Maleficent could possibly hide.

As they finished paying for their meal, a group of five people came downstairs from what was obviously the place where the Café's owner lived. But the strangest thing was that they were being followed by what appeared to be a walking balloon with two beady black eyes. As the trio looked around and noticed that nobody was paying any attention to the rotund balloon with legs, they failed to realize that one of the humans in the group had walked up to their table.

"Whoa," the guy said. "Nice costumes you guys!"

"Thanks…" Sora replied cautiously as he started to wonder why Donald and Goofy hadn't drawn any curious/concerned stares yet while examining the guy talking to them. He looked like he was only a few years older than Sora himself, wearing a white sweatshirt underneath a faded red T-shirt. He wore white sneakers and baggy green pants, with a blue beanie on top of his head.

"Oh your outfit's cool too," the stranger said. "But your friends' costumes are so detailed. It's almost lifelike."

"Thanks, I guess," Donald replied slightly nervous. If anyone who saw them freaked out, they'd have to leave this world before they could be captured and experimented on.

"Fred, quit bothering people," the black-haired girl from the group commented as she came up and slapped the guy, Fred apparently, in the head. "Sorry," she said as she turned to address the three off-worlders. "He tends to not think before he speaks when he sees something he thinks is cool." With that, she promptly dragged Fred back to the rest of the group. Just as Sora was about to ask them if they knew where to get a map of the city, the waitress walked over and turned up the volume on the TV situated above the trio's table. As the news broadcast got louder, Sora's blood ran colder.

"Downtown San Fransokyo is in chaos right now," the reporter on television said. "It's unclear whether these strange, multi-color monsters are the vanguard of an alien invasion or just a lab experiment gone wrong. But one thing is certain, if these monsters aren't stopped soon, innocent people will die." Sora immediately looked to Donald and Goofy and nodded. They were all thinking the same thing: Heartless or Nobodies. Maleficent's alien troops all had red fur, so Xehanort was likely sending the Heartless to root Maleficent out himself since she had one of the Princesses. If they followed the Heartless as they searched the city for the witch's lair, they'd find it.

As they quickly raced out of the café and towards the swarm of Heartless, they never noticed that the group from earlier had darted out the door minutes ago, and already had a head start. The heroes quickly arrived to find Heartless and Nobodies of all shapes and sizes rampaging through the city. What surprised the heroes though was the presence of four people in high-tech outfits, a red robot, and some kind of blue fire creature were trying to fight the monsters themselves. However, since they clearly weren't experienced in dealing with the Heartless, they weren't doing a very good job. Once the three off-worlders entered the fray, the battle was over within minutes.

Once the Heartless were completely destroyed, the trio quickly slipped off into an alleyway to avoid the press. As semi-modern as this world appeared to be, this was one of those worlds where a delegation would be better off convincing the government of this world to join the coalition than three interstellar travelers. But they didn't get far before they found their path blocked by the six heroes from earlier.

"That was amazing!" a blonde-haired girl in a purple outfit with red armor on her upper body shouted as the three heroes stopped in their tracks. "Where'd you guys get all your gear!?"

"It's a secret," Goofy answered cautiously.

"Wait," the kid in the middle with purple armor spoke up as he looked at the three off-worlders. "Weren't you guys at the café earlier?"

"Yeah…" Sora replied cautiously.

"Guys, guys," the blue and orange creature spoke up before lifting off the top of its head to reveal Fred in a monster costume. "They're clearly new to the whole superhero team, and they're a little self-conscious about all the attention. Let's all go back to mi casa and exchange introductions without worrying about the paparazzi dropping in on us." Everyone else agreed to the idea, and so Sora, Donald, and Goofy reluctantly followed the six superheroes as they made their way through the city towards a large mansion further up in the hills. Once they were all inside Fred's house the group exchanged introductions. The girl in yellow went by Gogo, everyone called the man in green Wasabi, and the boy in purple was Hiro Hamada, the only one in the group besides Fred without a nickname. Underneath the thick plated armor, the balloon-shaped robot was Baymax, a medical robot built by Hiro's older brother, Tadashi, who'd died in a fire a year ago. Compared to the origin story of the "Big Hero 6," the three off-worlders' story was a much longer and more complicated one. Nevertheless, once the Keyblade Master finished his tale, the six superheroes wholeheartedly agreed to help find Maleficent's base.

* * *

#### Pride Lands – Pride Rock

#### July 26, 2015

"It's nice to finally meet you," Simba said after the three Keyblade wielders had introduced themselves. "I've heard a lot about you three." Having been told of the other Keyblade wielders by Riku, Mickey, and Kairi when they'd visited a little over a week ago, Simba and his Pride welcomed Aqua, Lea, and Ventus into his kingdom with open arms, or paws, in this case.

"All good things, I'm sure," Lea replied, causing everyone to burst out laughing. Once the laughter died down, Aqua asked if there had been any sightings of Terra and Ludor. Aqua was a little disappointed when Simba answered that neither of the fugitives had been spotted on this world in the last week. But before they could ask any further, a pillar of fire erupted from out on the savanna, accompanied by three loud roars. Concerned, Aqua, Ventus, Simba, and Lea raced down from Pride Rock towards the sounds of battle. As they reached the open plains of the savanna, they were shocked at the scene before them.

Terra was fighting Sephiroth with his Keyblade while Ludor held the winged assassin in place. Sephiroth parried most of Terra's blows with his ten-foot katana, but it was clear the Organization defectors had the upper hand. Aqua cast a Blizzaga spell as she darted forward into the fray. Unfortunately, the spell bounced right off the winged lion and had no effect. Behind Aqua, Lea held his fiery blade between his fangs while Simba, knowing that the youngest Key bearer was out of his league even when the battle was four against one, held Ven back from the fight. In between combination attacks against Sephiroth, Terra and Aqua managed to catch up on what was going on. After another two hours of fighting it became clear that Sephiroth would not be brought down so easily. Realizing that prolonging the battle further would only endanger Simba's subjects, Terra and Ludor were forced to flee once again. Althought Terra was able to sneak in another kiss with Aqua before they left in a Corridor of Darkness. Recognizing that he was still outmatched, and no longer had a reason to stay anyway, Sephiroth departed a few minutes later.

* * *

#### San Fransokyo – Fred's Mansion

#### July 27, 2015

"I know where they are!" Fred shouted. After their first meeting Fred had insisted everyone spend the night at his family's mansion. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were a little reluctant to impose on Fred's family, but Fred's father, being a retired Superhero who had become the team's mission control during their battles, happily welcomed the interstellar travelers into his home. Despite napping aboard the Gummi Ship while travelling between Sherwood Forest and San Fransokyo, the trio were still exhausted from staying awake all night pulling off the jailbreak, so everyone had gotten some shut eye before they started brainstorming where Maleficent's base could possibly be hidden. After a night of bonding over sharing stories of their adventures, they'd spent the whole morning bonding over a large breakfast.

"Where!?" Everyone asked in unison. They all poked their heads up from wherever in Fred's room they were seated, be it a couch, chair or just leaning against a wall, eager to hear what the guy had to say.

"Remember that island where we fought Callaghan the first time and Hiro took out Baymax's medical chip and made him go all psycho?" the wealthy comic-book geek began. "That facility is still abandoned since Callaghan was arrested last year. What better place to hide than somewhere that's already abandoned?" Everyone agreed with the logic of the idea, and Hiro suggested using Baymax's sensors to double check Fred's theory. But before as they suited up, Fred's butler, Heathcliff, came in and informed the group that there was another Heartless/Nobody attack in the city. Realizing they needed to protect civilians first, the group headed out to confront the next group of monsters.

A little while later, the last of the monsters were vanquished, freeing up the group to go scan for Maleficent's lair. But before they could take flight (either by riding on Baymax or the jet-packs Hiro had quickly designed for the trio before their departure to the scene of the attack), they heard someone clapping. On a regular day, this wouldn't have bothered anyone in the group. But this wasn't the usual applause for heroics. This was the slow deliberate clap of a bad guy acknowledging his respect for his foes. The nine heroes turned towards the sound of the clapping to find a silver-haired man wearing the signature black coat of Organization XIII.

"It's good to see you're still as skilled as ever, Sora," Xemnas said.

"As if you care, Xemnas," Sora snapped, as the collective anger of Roxas and Xion welled up within him. As the Keyblade Master glared at Xehanort's Nobody, his eyes briefly flashed gold before quickly snapping back to their natural blue. Nobody except for Sora even noticed the change. And Sora only noticed because immediately after, he felt Roxas and Xion's anger at Xemnas die down significantly. Almost as if they were deliberately holding themselves back.

"So this is the sinister Organization XIII," Wasabi commented as the rest of Big Hero 6 prepared for battle. "This guy doesn't look that tough," the burly young man commented casually.

"Don't let your guard down," Fred immediately retorted. "When it comes to creatures like Nobodies, the more human they look, the more dangerous they are."

"What do you want?" Sora demanded as he continued to glare at his Nobody's former boss.

"To destroy Maleficent's base, just like all of you," the Superior of the In Between answered stoically.

"And what?" the seventeen-year old snapped. "You think some big speech about putting aside our differences to work towards a common goal will actually work? Yeah right. We'll handle Maleficent on our own, thank you very much. And we're still going to keep destroying every monster you send after us." He nodded as everyone around him voiced their agreement. Not even bothering to wait for Xemnas' reply, the group took off into the sky, rocket feet, jetpacks, and all. As they flew up towards the blimps hovering in the sky, Sora looked down to make sure Xemnas hadn't summoned more Heartless or Nobodies while their backs were turned.

 _More likely he's going to watch us and once we find Maleficent's lair, he's either going to storm it himself or let us all do his dirty work for him,_ the Keyblade Master thought to himself as the group flew up into the sky. In order for Baymax's long range scanners to get the best results, they needed to be at a higher altitude, where there would be less interference from buildings and other obstacles.


	60. Upgrades

#### Cable Town – Floating Islands

#### July 27, 2015

"Are the containment fields secure?" Maleficent asked as she examined the two large pods Hamsterviel had created to serve as prison cells for Terra and Ludor when they were finally captured. The green-skinned witch found it ironic that after sending out scout parties to hunt the two fugitives down, they stumbled into Cable Town completely by accident. Nevertheless, their capture was a rare prize, and she did not want them to escape.

"They're secure," the rodent-like mad scientist confirmed over the holographic transmission from San Fransokyo. "No Dark Corridors can be opened or closed within those containment units. I checked."  _Alright then,_ the dark fairy thought to herself.  _Now I just have to recall all the hunting parties and start sending out my demands to Xehanort and the Keyblade Bearers._

"And what of the Keyblade Wielders?" she asked cautiously.

"They have arrived in San Fransokyo," the doctor replied. "I am purging my laboratory of sensitive materials and information as we speak. Project Dark Bot will be online and ready for deployment within a few hours."

"Good," the sorceress stated bluntly. "Once the test run has been completed, return to Cable Town so we can plan our next move. Do not fail me, Doctor. If you are somehow captured and let critical information slip, I will hurt you in such ways as to make you beg for death." With that, she abruptly cut off the transmission.  _It's almost time,_ she mused as she looked through the semi-transparent material of the pods at Terra and Ludor's bodies, floating unconscious in the clear gel that nullified their powers and kept them sedated.  _Soon, I will have all five books of Prophecies in my possession, Xehanort and the heroes will destroy each other, and from the ashes, my new empire will be born._

* * *

#### The World That Never Was – Braig's Room

#### July 27, 2015

 _No, no, no, no, NO!_ Braig fumed silently to himself as he RTC'd back from Atlantis. Tears streamed down his face as he recalled Kairi's rejection of her past as Ava.  _It wasn't supposed to be this way. She was supposed to Unchain herself. To gather those of us who remain and lead us to victory, not to reject her memories and blindly stumble along the path that The Outcast wants!_ After resisting the urge to pull out his Keyblade and start tearing apart the room, he sat down on his bed.  _The Ava I knew really is gone… forever._

He sighed as he recalled the days following the sinking of Atlantis. It was only thanks to the intervention of King Triton of Atlantica that he didn't drown that day. The sea king was just as furious with the infighting of the Foretellers as Kashekim was. But he still rescued Braig as a favor to Ava. The Vulpeus foreteller was well-loved all over the world, and being referenced as one of her closest confidants had given him some influence. After that first day, the war went on for another seven long, bloody years. Without Ava as a voice of reason, the four factions were all at each other's throats. Anguis and Unicornis fought with each other as much as they fought with Leopardos and Ursus, and that had only increased the bloodshed a thousand-fold.

Knowing that Ava would object to the warriors of her union getting involved in the senseless conflict, Derax took over the Vulpeus union and focused their war-time efforts on evacuating civilians and protecting them from getting killed in the crossfire between the other four unions, taking the evacuated refugees to safe haven in Asgard. While the Vulpeus union was occupied following Ava's wishes, Ephemer had gathered together his fellow Unchained together so that they could find the X – Blade themselves. They weren't doing it for peace or so that the factions would stop fighting. They were doing it to get justice for Ava's murder.

Snapping back to the present, Braig quickly went to check in with the old man. Master Xehanort still trusted him, and he needed that trust to remain intact for as long as possible. As he warped around the castle in search of the bald Keyblade Master, he felt a sense of foreboding, and he found that thought comforting. The ominous feeling meant that it was almost time for the final battle to begin.  _Hope it hurries along then,_ he thought to himself as he found Master Xehanort standing up on the Altar of Naught.  _The sooner we get this over with, the better._

* * *

#### San Fransokyo – Up in the Sky

#### July 27, 2015

"That was amazing!" Sora exclaimed as he, Donald, and Goofy joined Big Hero 6 on the airborne dirigible. Thanks to a few clusters of airborne Heartless and a few more Nobody attacks on the ground, the sun was just beginning to set by the time the nine heroes finally reached the requisite altitude for Baymax to scan for life signals that didn't match human vital signs. Everyone voiced their agreement as they all spent a few more minutes admiring the view and catching their breaths after the last battle.  _Kairi will love this place,_ the Keyblade Master thought to himself as he mentally added San Fransokyo to the list of places to take his girlfriend on future dates.

Once everyone had caught their breath and regained their stamina, Baymax stood up and started scanning the city for non-human vital signs. The healthcare robot recognized dog and cat vital signs after seeing them every time he used his medical sensor, and so San Fransokyo's house pets were automatically excluded from the search. After a few minutes of scanning, the armored robot located several unfamiliar vital signs coming from the abandoned island that used to house Krei Tech's research facility. With Fred's theory confirmed, the group flew off towards the island, hoping to rescue Snow White and take down Maleficent for good.

When they arrived at the island, the two teams immediately switched to stealth mode. They crept around to the hole the six superheroes had used to enter the island last year, only to find it boarded up. Sora led the group around to the other side of the outdoor area to a locked door. Sora pulled out his Keyblade and silently unlocked the door. For the next few minutes, they silently sneaked through the corridors of the seemingly abandoned research facility. As they walked through, they could see the telltale signs of habitation. The lights were on. The floors cleared of rubble. Ripped cables repaired and fallen panels put back where they belonged. Maleficent's cabal was definitely using the building as their lair. Motioning silently to the group that they needed to split up in order to cover more ground, Sora was about to lead Donald, Goofy, and Fred down one corridor while the rest of the group took another when…

"Oh no," Baymax said in his usual calm monotone before the three off-worlders heard the familiar guttural gibberish of Maleficent's Stitch-like minions. Sora and Donald quickly threw up Reflega spells while the rest of the team took cover as plasma bolts came flying down the hallway. As the magical shields deflected the laser blasts, Honey Lemon started throwing her chemical balls at the attack alien monsters, trapping them in foam. Once the guards were all disarmed, Donald used the radio on the Gummi remote to send a message to the Coalition requesting reinforcements. But by then it was already too late. The alarm had been triggered.

The heroes raced through the long metal hallways of the facility, hoping to find wherever Maleficent was keeping Snow White locked up. Each time they encountered more guards, they repeated the routine from earlier. Deflect the shots with Reflega, then bind the guards with Honey's chemical grenades. After a few repetitions, they reached the room that used to house Krei Tech's experimental portal device. Once they all raced into the room, Sora sealed off the entrance behind them with a Blizzaga spell, so that the Leroys couldn't follow. Once that was done, they looked around the room in horror. What was once a small portal room had been converted into a large laboratory. On one side of the room was a machine that appeared to be mass-producing small black shapes that looked eerily familiar to the city's resident superhero team.

"My Microbots!?" Hiro gasped as he recognized his invention being mass-produced. Only this time, it was being done by a megalomaniacal conqueror instead of a revenge-seeking college professor. And everyone's eyes widened when they looked at the other end of the room and saw a large, familiar, armored robot. The armor was deep purple instead of red, the wings and helmet were shaped to look more demonic, and there were horns all over the armored body, but the shape was unmistakably the same. The shape of Baymax.

"How…" everyone spluttered in shock at seeing the form of such a love-able and innocent robot twisted into something monstrous. Their confusion was interrupted when a small white gerbil with a red cape walked into the room.

"Ah, I see you've all found Project Dark Bot," the gerbil began. "Amazing technology, isn't it. We found it drifting through the Lanes Between, broken, but with such formidable fighting skills programmed into its body, Maleficent felt that it was an ideal super-soldier for her new army."

"That doesn't belong to you," Hiro snapped, angry at his brother's invention being twisted in an even worse way than when he'd tried to have Baymax kill Callaghan.

"Maybe not," the gerbil replied. "But thanks to the genius scientific mind of I, Doctor Jacques Von Hamsterviel, Greatest Evil Genius In The Galaxy, Maleficent will spread her reign across all worlds and conquer the entire galaxy. And in return for my services, I will become king top ruler of the remains of the STINKY GALACTIC ALLIANCE!" With an evil cackle, the gerbil-like alien jumped onto the computer console in front of Baymax's old body and pressed a button.  _This is not going to be good,_ everyone realized as power cables disconnected from the robot's body. As the dark robot powered up, the Microbots on the other side of the room began rising up from their containers and flying over and attaching themselves to interface sockets on the robot's right arm.

As the robot finished powering up, the lights on its helmet where Baymax's eyes used to be lit up a dangerous red.  _They kept the battle-chip in,_ Hiro realized with an expression of horror dawning on his face while Hamsterviel silently scurried out of the room. Once the old robot was fully online, all hell broke loose. The Robot immediately went after the superheroes with punches and kicks that were only enhanced by the stream of Microbots plugged into its arm.  _They must have combined the neural-cranial transmitter with the old body,_ the fifteen-year old genius deduced as everyone dodged the Microbot-enhanced attacks of the monstrous robot. When Fred's attempt to breathe fire at the robot failed, Dark Baymax took off through the roof.

"He's heading for the city!" Fred shouted as everyone immediately sprang into action. They all immediately took off to stop the evil robot. Sora, Hiro, and Fred rode on Baymax while Donald, Goofy, Gogo, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi took the jetpacks. As they flew through the sky back towards the city, they did everything they could to bring the demonic machine down. Honey Lemon threw explosive chemical balls, Donald threw offensive spells, Sora hurled his Keyblade like he did against the Rock Titan in Olympus, and Fred spewed fire at the robot, but they only slowed it down.

As the battle stretched out into the city, the pattern continued. One half of the group used long-ranged attacks to keep the monstrosity off the ground and away from the city, while Gogo and Wassabi would periodically dart in and slash at the armor with razor wheels and plasma blades. Eventually, after a long and tiring battle, they brought the robot down just as the sun set. Once the remains were disposed of, the group returned to the island, only to find the facility completely abandoned.

"They knew we'd be coming," Sora voiced what they were all thinking aloud. "They sent the robot to attack the city as a distraction so they could clean out and move to another base." Sora was upset that they'd failed again, but everyone cheered the seventeen-year old up by pointing out that they'd still saved the city. Deciding that it was time for them to regroup with their friends and figure out what the next step to stopping Xehanort and Maleficent was, the trio spent one more night in San Fransokyo before heading back to the Mysterious Tower. The sense of foreboding Sora had felt a while ago grew stronger once again.

* * *

#### Cable Town – Mountains

#### July 27, 2015

 _Shit,_ Sephiroth cursed mentally as he shakily dragged himself to his feet.  _I haven't been wounded this badly since Xehanort hired me to kill Thanos, or whatever his name was._ The injuries inflicted upon him in lion form were more severe than anyone else believed. His one wing was broken and incapable of flight. His left wrist, his sword fighting hand, was fractured, and his right ankle was sprained. His entire body was covered from shoulders to thighs in so many claw and bite marks that he couldn't even begin to count them all. It would take at least a week for the healing abilities inherited from his Mother to fully repair the damage. At least half a day before he'd even be able to stand up again. If Cloud came for him now, he was finished.

 _Fortunately,_ he thought to himself as he looked around at his surroundings,  _I appear to have landed on an undiscovered world, and it's unlikely that anyone will find me here._ As he resumed examining his injuries, he failed to notice the blonde haired woman looking down at him from the floating islands above. Nor did he see her walk back into the ancient temple that had been converted into Maleficent's stronghold and inform the green-skinned fairy of the One-Winged Angel's arrival. Perhaps he should have paid more attention. If he had, the events to come might have turned out drastically different.


	61. Working Together

#### Mysterious Tower – The Tower

#### July 28, 2015

"How did the Heartless manage to break through Master Yen Sid's barrier?" Sora asked rhetorically as he, Donald, and Goofy rode around in a summoned car with laser cannons on the sides, firing at the Heartless gathering at the base of the tower. "I thought the spell was supposed to keep Xehanort and the Heartless out?" The trio had returned to the Mysterious Tower to find it under siege by the Heartless. As the cart disappeared in a flash of light, the three heroes went right back to destroying the dark monsters with Keyblade, shield, and magic. Fortunately, most of the Heartless were of the weaker variety, like Soldiers, so they'd already mopped up the last of the little demons by the time the others landed.

"Hey guys!" Sora shouted as he walked over to the rest of their friends. He gave Riku, Aqua, Ventus, and Lea high-fives before they all started heading inside. While everyone else was busy talking, Sora gave Kairi a quick kiss, ignoring Lea's startled exclamation of "When did THAT happen!?"

"I missed you," he told her as they walked into the tower together.

"I missed you too," she replied as they walked up the stairs. "There were a lot of worlds I saw that felt like great places for us to go for our next date."

"I found a few ideas myself," he said with a conspiratorial wink. They went on to tell each other about all the places they'd been on the way up to Yen Sid's chambers, laughing at some of the funny parts of each other's adventures. After discussing their adventures they moved on to discussing where to go for their second date, since there were so many options to choose from. Everyone else even chimed in with their suggestions during the long walk up the stairs to the Loft. By the time they reached the final flight of stairs, the couple eventually decided on Never Land, since Sora had been wanting to take Kairi flying there since his first adventure. Sadly, the humor came to an end as the group of nine walked into Master Yen Sid's study.

After exchanging greetings with the old Keyblade Master, they all took their seats. Riku and Lea each sat on opposite ends of the arch of chairs, while Mickey, Donald, and Goofy sat in the middle. Sora and Kairi sat next to each other between Riku and Donald, while Aqua and Ven sat between Goofy and Lea. Jiminy hopped out of his place in Sora's hood and stood on the desk. Once everyone was seated, Master Yen Sid began.

"I'm sure you've all noticed that my barrier spell has weakened," he began. "Xehanort and Maleficent's actions are tipping the balance of power toward Darkness. Because of this, the Heartless are becoming stronger, while my spell is growing weaker. Because of this, I've reduced the shield to only include the tower itself, and I've had Belle and Jasmine move up into the wardrobe room in the event that I must shrink it again." As he said this, gestured to indicate the door to his left. Once that announcement had been made, everyone reported on their progress.

Upon reading Braig's letter explaining the secrets of the Unchained and the Foretellers, Master Yen Sid's face paled with shock and fear, even moreso when Kairi relayed the Atlantean king's tale of the beginning of the Keyblade War. Even though they all knew that what they'd done in their past lives didn't matter, and that they were different people than the Foretellers had been, the fact that his past life had been the one to kill Ava and start the war left Ven shaken. Everyone immediately reassured him that he wasn't to blame for what happened back then. Kairi especially was vocal in her belief that their past lives were practically different people, so it really wasn't anyone's fault for the actions of a past incarnation.

The mood brightened a bit when Aqua and Lea reported on the capture of Yzma and the addition of a few more worlds to the Coalition, and everyone went on to pool in all the information they'd uncovered in the last few days. Once everyone had gotten out everything that needed to be said, now came the time to decide on their next course of action. With no current leads on Maleficent's location, they eventually agreed that it was time to storm the World That Never Was and rescue the other Princesses of Heart. But before they could head back down to the Gummi Ships, a loud cawing interrupted them. The heroes all looked over to the window to find Maleficent's raven familiar perched on the edge of the star-shaped opening with an envelope clutched in its beak. The raven flew over and dropped the letter on the table before flying back out again. Cautiously, Master Yen Sid opened the envelope, and read the letter within.

_"_ _Greetings, heroes of Light,_

_In recent weeks I have come into custody of certain individuals who hold high strategic value to both sides of this ever-growing conflict. Terra. Ludor. Snow White. I will hand these three over to you in exchange for the remaining two copies of the Book of Prophecies. I know one exists in the Land of Departure, and I suspect one more is hidden in Yen Sid's tower. Bring them to Cable Town tomorrow, and if Xehanort doesn't give me a better offer, I'll give you the ones you want._

_-Maleficent"_

Below the witch's signature were the coordinates for the world she wanted them to meet her at. For a few minutes, everyone sat in silence as they processed what they'd just read. Maleficent was trying to sell her captives to the highest bidder. But if Xehanort was being made the same offer, then…

"She wants us to kill each other," Sora said as he realized the dark fairy's goal. "She wants us and the Organization all in one place, so that we'll all destroy each other in order to get her prisoners before the other side does, eliminating her competition in one swoop." Everyone quickly agreed as they realized the logic of the witch's plan, but as for her demands, they quickly found themselves between a rock and a hard place. If they showed up without the Books, which Yen Sid had explained were a crucial piece of the history of the Keyblade War, and had the power to create illusions of worlds and people that didn't exist yet, then she would just hand her hostages over to Xehanort. But if they gave her the books, they'd be putting tremendous power in the hands of an evil conqueror.

Ultimately, they realized that their only option was to bring the books along and play things by ear. Their decision made, the group headed downstairs to the guest rooms to eat dinner before getting some sleep after all the constant fighting and travelling. Once everyone else had left the kitchen/dining room area and headed off to bed, Sora and Kairi took advantage of their time alone to talk about the battle that was sure to come.

"I'm terrified," he admitted sadly. "I'm scared that if we get into this big battle like Maleficent clearly expects us to, Xehanort will just take you and leave. I know you can take care of yourself but you're nowhere near the level you need to be to fight a member of the Organization, Kairi."

"Sora, I get it," she answered as she leaned towards him and gave him a hug. "I'm scared, too. But I can't just stay cooped up all the time. I want to get out and help with everything, make a difference. If it'll make you feel better, we'll stick together for the entire meeting how's that?"

"That sounds good," Sora replied as he wiped the tears that had welled up in his eyes. "We can stay by each other's sides the whole time so neither of us has to worry. I guess being worried about each other is one of the things that comes with being together as a couple."

"Yeah," Kairi replied with a chuckle. "I guess so." She kissed him on the lips before getting up and grabbing two Sea-Salt Ice-cream bars from the refrigerator against the far wall. A storm was coming, they could both feel it. But whatever happened, they'd weather it together. So the young lovers talked about ideas for future dates as they ate their ice cream to take their mind off the oncoming storm. An hour later, they went to bed nervous about the battle to come, yet hopeful for their future as a couple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus, act 2 ends, and act 3 begins


	62. Cable Town

#### Cable Town – Mountains

#### July 29, 2015

"We've got to help these people," Kairi declared as they walked up the mountains of Cable Town. They'd arrived on this previously undiscovered world to find a city in chains. While the apparently famous Floating Islands were connected with the three mountains by thick steel cables, but the heroes were concerned more with the emotional and mental chains, rather than the physical ones. Upon their arrival, they discovered that Maleficent had taken control of the world and was forcing the townspeople to provide food and maintenance for her new base.

"I agree," Sora added as they walked up the mountain slopes. "It's horrible that these people have to toil away to serve Maleficent's whims, but the only way we'll be able to do anything is if we hit Maleficent when her guard is down, and drive her off-world." Behind the couple, the rest of the group marched up the mountain with them. Aqua and Mickey each carried a Book of Prophecy under one arm, with everyone else trailing behind. Eventually, they reached the top of the mountain, where they found a gondola station that was once used to take people to and from the Floating Islands.

Since the gondolas could only seat four people at a time, they went in shifts. Riku, Ventus, Lea, Donald, and Goofy crammed into one car for the first trip, while Aqua, Mickey, Sora, and Kairi waited for the second round. As they waited, the people of Cable Town came out to see these alleged heroes, eager for someone to save them from Maleficent's reign of terror. None of the four heroes could resist helping people in need, and promised to drive Maleficent from their world as soon as they possibly could. After about an hour of waiting, the cable car returned to the mountain. Knowing that waiting would just make things worse, the four Keyblade wielders all climbed into the car before it began the ascent to the Floating Islands.

They were all nervous, so they spent the ride up talking about more pleasant things to take their mind off the upcoming parley with Maleficent. Sora and Kairi were pumped dry for information on their dating plans. Mickey gave Kairi advice on balancing duties as a monarch with being a Keyblade Master. Aqua told stories about her apprenticeship to Eraqus, and all the crazy stunts she, Terra, and Ven had gotten in trouble for. Talking about things that had nothing to do with their current situation helped them all take their minds off their unease.

When they reached the top, they found the others waiting for them. Once they were all together, one of Maleficent's red Stitches arrived and gestured for them to follow it. It led them through the twisting corridors of the old temples built on the Floating Islands and across two bridges until they reached what was clearly supposed to be an audience chamber. On the opposite side of the room stood Master Xehanort, Xemnas, his Heartless, and Isa, while Maleficent herself stood on the raised dais against the wall between the two factions.

"Good afternoon," she began, welcoming the heroes and villains to her domain. As she went on to outline the rules of the negotiations, the tension in the room was so thick even Keyblade wouldn't have been able to cut it. Sora nervously squeezed Kairi's hand to reassure himself that she was still there, that Xehanort hadn't used the distraction to snatch her away when his back was turned. He took a deep breath to steady himself. A coalition strike team was in orbit, ready to swoop down at a moment's notice if anything went wrong. Unfortunately, he and Kairi were both wary of the fact that Braig was nowhere to be found.  _Where is he?_ She wondered to herself as she looked around at the assembled faces of the Organization members. As the thought passed through her head, she was struck with a terrible feeling of nausea, as if something terrible was about to occur.

* * *

#### Mysterious Tower – Sorcerer's Loft

#### July 29, 2015

"I thought you would be older," Braig commented as he stood facing Master Yen Sid in his study. Master Xehanort has sent the one-eyed sniper to attack the Mysterious Tower and capture Jasmine and Belle while the rest of the Organization procured Snow White from Maleficent. Breaking the old sorcerer's barrier spell was child's play. He'd invented it himself, after all. Now they faced each other, warrior to warrior. Although Braig had heard many things about the old loon's mentor, he was expecting the man to be even older than Xehanort. Clearly that wasn't the case.

"Unlike Xehanort," the great wizard answered, "I prefer ways of preserving my body that don't involve the possession of others."

"Of course," the Freeshooter replied before casting an Aero spell that sent the ancient Keyblade Master's beard billowing around the room. "The old coot always has to do things the hard way, doesn't he? He transferred his Heart into a new, younger body, when all along he could have been using an Atlantean Heart Crystal." As the wind died down and the old man's beard returned to its normal state, Braig caught sight of the telltale turquoise glow of Atlantean crystal beneath the sorcerer's beard, confirming his suspicions.

"There must be another way," Yen Sid began as he smoothed his ruffled facial hair. "In your letter you spoke of stopping Xehanort single-handedly, but you need not do it alone. You do not have to stoop to Xehanort's level in order to defeat him."

"But I must," Braig retorted. "Because your way of stopping him will end the cycle thousands of years too early. The worlds aren't ready yet. It's not yet time. Thwarting the old coot now will eliminate his plans. I need the princesses of Heart. Xehanort is after the Key to Return Hearts." When the old man's eyes widened in shock and horror, the one-eyed man continued. "I take it you've heard of it. Anyway, the old fool is trying to create it by gathering all seven Princesses. He wants to use it to awaken the remnants of Vanitas buried deep inside Sora's heart." At this, the sorcerer's face paled in pure, unrestrained terror. "I'm taking the girls," he added smugly.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Master Yen Sid roared angrily. Braig actually took a step back. Righteous fury rolled off the old sorcerer in waves, but the Unchained warrior was ready. He had eight thousand years of experience on the ancient magician. The Freeshooter smiled an eager grin as Yen Sid pulled the Land of Departure's Keyblade, the Master's Defender, out from under his desk, and assumed a battle stance.

"That can be arranged," Braig replied as he summoned his Keyblade for the first time in nearly forty years. He readied himself in his fighting stance, and the duel began. At the start of the battle, the two Keyblade bearing warriors were evenly matched. For every spell each man cast, the other quickly blocked and returned fire. Every swing of the Keyblade was blocked. The longer the impasse went on, the more heated the battle became. Eventually, a stray Firaga Burst spell tore open a large hole in the wall, roof, and floor.

"Not bad," he commented as he dodged a swing of Yen Sid's blade. "But I have something you don't have." He warped away from the spells and swings until he was inches from the old man's face. "Eight thousand years of experience." Before Yen Sid could say anything, Braig drove his Keyblade through the old man's heart. After dropping the Master's Defender, Master Yen Sid staggered back, the Unchained's weapon lodged in his chest. "Don't worry," Braig said apologetically as he walked towards the old man. "Xehanort will die like he does every cycle. The X – Blade won't be forged for another two thousand years." As Master Yen Sid stood on the edge of the crumbling hole. Beneath him was an endless drop through the orange clouds below.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way," he added sadly as he removed his blood-stained Keyblade from the old man's chest. "I really am." With that, he kicked the older man out into the empty air, sending his body plummeting down into the endless abyss beneath the tower. Braig stood on the edge looking down until the old man's body fell out of sight. Once Yen Sid's body was no longer visible, the Unchained Keyblade wielder walked towards the door to the wardrobe room where the two Princesses of Heart were hunkered down with a look of grim satisfaction on his face. He didn't like it, but it needed to be done. Soon Xehanort would be dead, and hopefully he'd be heading to the afterlife along with him.

* * *

#### Cable Town – Floating Islands

#### July 29, 2015

"You brought the books then." Maleficent's assessment was more of a statement than a question. The heroes glowered at the green-skinned fairy as they reluctantly confirmed that they had indeed brought the copies of the Book of Prophecies, as she had requested. When asked for proof that she had all three of her alleged hostages, she snapped her fingers and three of the red alien soldiers came out of the side doors behind her pushing carts holding translucent versions of the stasis pods in the Twilight Town mansion. In each pod was one of her three hostages. Terra, Snow White, and Ludor. This at least managed to quell the heroes' fears that Maleficent was trying to trick them into handing over the books.

"And what do you have to counter-offer, Xehanort?" she asked the four Organization members standing on the opposite side of the room from the heroes of light. As it turned out, since Xehanort had a lot to offer despite not having the Books of Prophecy. The ancient Keyblade Master stepped forward and offered Maleficent a very tempting package deal. In exchange for her three prisoners, he was prepared to offer Organization XIII's entire fleet of spacecraft used to protect the World That Never Was, all of the Organization's reconnaissance reports for every world they had ever made contact with, a stasis pod containing a man with red skin and a misshapen head whom Xehanort claimed shared Maleficent's interests, and lastly, the severed head of a purple-skinned alien who was apparently a rival of hers in the field of galactic conquest.

The arguments quickly began in earnest. Maleficent was sorely tempted to take Xehanort's offer. However, Sora made a convincing argument to choosing the heroes.

"First of all," he argued. "Trading with Xehanort just means he'll stab you in the back later on, and he'll take our copies of the books and try and get his hands on your copies. Second of all, what Xehanort's offering you, information, new allies, and killing off rivals; that's all stuff you can get yourself. But we're the ones who have something you can't get anywhere else. Would you rather trade your  _irreplaceable_ hostages for something you can get for yourself any time you want, or something rare and valuable that you'll only ever have one opportunity to get your hands on?"

As much as Maleficent despised the young man, his argument was valid. So reluctantly, Sora gave her the books as the Leroys opened the pods to release Terra, Ludor, and Snow White. Aqua, Riku, and Lea quickly put themselves between the former hostages and the Organization. For a single moment, things actually looked positive for the Guardians of Light. But then Braig showed up, and their joy quickly turned to ashes in their mouths.

"The old man's dead and I got the girls," Braig announced as he emerged from a Dark Corridor carrying a bound and gagged Belle and Jasmine over his shoulders. Immediately, the heroes' collective blood boiled as they realized what the Freeshooter had done. That he'd killed Master Yen Sid. A man who was a mentor to some and a friend to others. But every Keyblade Wielder (except Xehanort of course) and the two soldiers of Disney Town glared angrily at the Unchained warrior.

"YOU MONSTER!" Kairi snapped furiously as she drew her Keyblade. All around her the rest of the group followed suit. But before they could move to attack, Xehanort pulled out his Keyblade and cast Mega Flare. Everyone barely had enough time to cast Reflega before the massive explosion engulfed the room. When the dust settled, Sora still clung to Kairi's hand beneath the protective glow of their shield. A few feet away, Aqua and Terra did the same. Riku, Mickey, and Lea looked toward the raised dais on which Maleficent had been standing only to find her now singed robes lying on the ground in a flaming heap while her alien minions frantically struggled to put out the fires in their furs.

The heroes quickly regained their senses before launching into action. Aqua cast a Blizzaga spell on the alien troops, unwilling to allow them to suffer such agony despite everything they'd done for Maleficent. Meanwhile, Donald quickly used the Gummi Auto-pilot remote to silently send a signal to the Coalition troops waiting in orbit.  _It's time,_ the message said.  _Land the troops. Now._ As that was happening, Terra swiftly transformed his Keyblade into a cannon and fired a massive ball of white-hot fire at the Organization members on the opposite side of the hall. While Xehanort easily deflected the destructive projectile into an empty wall opposite Maleficent's throne, more of the madman's black-cloaked minions emerged from Corridors of Darkness and readied their weapons. In the blink of an eye, the two groups charged into battle.

* * *

#### Cable Town - Lower Terrace

#### July 29, 2015

 _I have to hurry,_ Sephiroth thought to himself as he limped through the streets of Cable Town.  _If Cloud finds me here, I won't last till sunset._ His broken wing hung limp behind him. Surprisingly, nobody paid him any mind. Nobody stopped him or tried to speak with him. If anything, they ran to get out of his way the instant they saw him.  _Better than having to fight my way out of here,_ he mused as he clutched his injured side.  _That fireball clearly means that someone, either Xehanort or Maleficent is on-world. Hopefully I can get out of here before Cloud finds me._

"SEPHIROTH!" the blonde haired man's voice shouted out behind him.  _Speak of the devil_ _,_ the One-Winged Angel cursed in his head as he turned around to face his progenitor. This time, it wasn't just him and the black-haired girl, Tifa. This time, he had back up. Accompanying him were that brunette man from Radiant Garden and that so-called "Great Ninja" Yuffie, along with two other people he'd never seen before. The moment Sephiroth laid eyes on the group, he knew his time had come. But he refused to admit defeat and let them kill him. So he would go out the way he was always meant to go out: dying in the heat battle.

"You really think that bringing more people for me to kill will actually stop me?" he taunted as he released his side. His voice steady and even to mask the pain he was in.

"What the Keyblade wielders did to you in the Pride Lands just proves that you can't deal with multiple attackers at once," Cloud retorted angrily.  _So they figured it out then,_ the assassin realized.  _Alright, let's get this over with._

"You just never get it, do you, Cloud?" he fired back as he unsheathed his blade. "To hate me is to give me breath. To fight me is to give me strength! NOW PREPARE TO FACE OBLIVION!" With that, he charged into battle, slashing with only a fraction of his legendary speed. The One-Winged Angel knew he was going to die, but he refused to breathe his last without a fight.  _I will not stop fighting while there is still breath left in my lungs,_ he resolved to himself as he parried a blow from a gun-blade before swinging his katana once more as his last battle began.


	63. Beginning of the End

#### Cable Town – Floating Mountains

#### July 29, 2015

Sora ducked behind the crumbling wall as another Firaga spell from Xemnas shook the room. A soon as the battle began, the room erupted into chaos. Riku, Mickey, and Lea were hunkered in the throne room fighting off Braig and Isa. Terra, Aqua, and Ven were pinned down in the barracks by Maleficent's troops. Donald, Goofy, and Ludor were trapped on the roof holding off Ratcliffe and Hans. Meawhile, he, Kairi, and Snow White were being battered by Ansem and Xemnas in the entrance hall as they tried to board the gondola and get Snow White to safety. After deflecting a few of the dark duo's attacks, he quickly summoned an enchanted pirate ship and used it to knock both men out of the entrance hall long enough for them to jump onto the steel cables connecting the floating islands to the mountains below.

With Snow White holding onto Kairi's back, they used Flowmotion to glide down the thick cables, leaving their two pursuers in the dust. As they slid down the cables, Sora glanced back to see explosions bursting up from all over the ancient temple complex. As the battle against Xehanort began, what was left of Maleficent's forces started pushing back in order to drive both factions out, only to be forced on the defensive by the arrival of Coalition Troops. He thought he'd spotted a few familiar faces from the Land of Dragons or La Cite Des Cloches as he, Kairi, and Snow fought their way out of the witch's lair. Snow White had proved surprisingly adept at hand to hand combat, having spent the years since her rescue from Maleficent the last time training herself to fight so that she would not be defenseless the next time someone tried to abduct her.

As they broke through the cloud layer, they discovered that the battle was being waged on the ground as well as in the air. Sora recognized the telltale glow of Leon's charged-up gun-blade, and once the trio was safely off the cables, they raced down the mountain to help. When they reached the lower terrace, they found a sight none of them expected to see. Cloud, Tifa, Leon, Yuffie, and two members of the Restoration Committee Sora had never met before were locked in combat with Sephiroth. The most unusual thing about it though, was not that the six warriors appeared to have the upper hand, but that Sephiroth seemed weaker than usual. His movements were more sluggish, less flashy, and devoid of any combat magic. At first Sora thought that the One-Winged Angel was simply feigning weakness in order to get his opponents to lower their guards, but the giveaway to what was really happening however, was that the assassin's lone black wing hung limp behind him, clearly broken and incapable of flight.

Realizing what these signs meant, Sora asked Kairi to stay back and protect Snow White before he raced down the hill and joined the battle. If Sephiroth was surprised by his sudden entrance, he didn't show it. Sora turned his Keyblade into two pistols and started shooting fire spells at the winged assassin. Sephiroth was able to deftly dodge them, until the man with the metal arm managed to hit Sephiroth with a laser blast to the chest from his arm cannon. The teen winced upon hearing the distinctive crunch of bones breaking as the One-Winged Angel hit the ground. Even more so when Sephiroth took a few labored breaths before leaping back to his feet.

Sora quickly blocked as the Inhuman assassin aimed his blade at the young man's heart. The team fighting Sephiroth was so focused on their target that they failed to notice the Heartless emerging from the shadows to surround Kairi and Snow. Kairi knew that Sephiroth was a bigger target than these Heartless, so she pulled out her Keyblade and started casting spells at the dark monsters as she put herself between Snow White and the Heartless. Her months of training were really paying off, as she cut down her demonic foes with ease. As the crowd of Heartless thinned, Sephiroth continued to grow weaker and weaker. Until finally Cloud drove his blade through his dark half's heart.

"You're finished," he said with an air of finality as he panted heavily from the exhaustion of the fight. "For good this time. You will hurt anyone else ever again." All Sephiroth could do as he faded away into Darkness and nothing was sit there in silence, glaring defiantly at his killer.

"I may be gone, Cloud," he retorted weakly. "But as long as you have darkness in your heart, I will continue to haunt you until… the day…. You…" The One-Winged Angel never finished his sentence as he disintegrated in a wisp of black smoke that quickly rose into the air before fading into nothingness. Satisfied that the monster was finally gone, Sora and everyone else stood there for a few moments catching their breath, but Sora immediately turned around when he heard a scream.

"SORA!" Kairi shouted as he turned his head to find her holding onto Snow White's arms and attempting to pull her out of a Dark Corridor that had opened up in the ground beneath the Princess, dragging her in. Sora raced over and grabbed Kairi's waist as he tried to pull the two Princesses of Heart back from the portal to what was presumably the World That Never Was. Despite Sora's added strength, Kairi's feet edged closer and closer to the edge of the Corridor. Their hopes lifted for a brief second when the force dragging Snow into the portal momentarily lessened. Then it instantly came back even stronger. Kairi's feet slipped off the edge and through the Darkness. Kairi quickly let go of Snow White's hands and desperately latched onto Sora's.

"Sora," she gasped as she felt the force, which turned out of be several Organization members attempting to drag her into the portal by her legs. "I love you." Both of them understood what she was leaving unsaid: this was a losing battle. No matter how hard he pulled to drag her free of the Darkness, more and more Organization members were coming, and inch by inch she sank deeper into the Corridor.

"I love you too," Sora whispered as tears began welling up in his eyes. "And no matter what happens, no matter how long it takes, no matter what I have to do or how far I have to go, I will find you, Kairi. I will always find you." And the combined pulling of nine Organization members finally broke the two lovers apart, dragging the last free Princess of Heart off to the World That Never Was, the portal quickly closing behind them before Sora could follow. For a moment, the teenage Keyblade Master just stood there in shock, tears flowing down his cheeks at the realization that he had failed to protect Kairi. Failed to save the girl he loved. Before Cloud, Leon, or any of the others could walk over and offer words of comfort, he snapped.

For ten solid minutes he simply swung his Keyblade at everything nearby. Rocks, trees, cliff faces, he didn't care what he hit. He was so grief-stricken at the thought of losing Kairi again that he failed to notice a dark presence welling up in his mind. None of the Coalition soldiers were close enough to notice his eyes flicker between blue and gold, or his hair flashing back and forth from brown to black. Only when the voices of Roxas and Xion started ringing in his head did he finally stop. The young man dried his eyes as Roxas and Xion reassured him that they were going to get Kairi back. They were going to storm the Castle That Never Was, save Kairi, and make Xehanort  _pay_ for everything he had done to everyone in the monster's excessively long life. Sora's mood brightened a bit, and the dark presence died down, but the urge to make Xehanort suffer for what he'd done lingered.

By the time he'd finished up in the woods, the battle was over. Maleficent's allies had scattered to the wind after her apparent death, even though none of them could be certain she wouldn't find a way to come back later. While Cable Town had been liberated from Maleficent's control, their victory was not without setbacks. It wasn't just Kairi and Snow that Xehanort had grabbed. Terra and Ludor had been snatched up in the chaos of the battle. With the knowledge that now was the time to storm Xehanort's stronghold, the eight heroes boarded their Gummi Ships, heading for the one place they hoped would still have a link for them to access the World That Never Was: Twilight Town.

* * *

#### The World That Never Was – The Soundless Prison

#### July 29, 2015

"It's not use," Cinderella commented bleakly as Kairi attempted to break the barrier keeping the seven princesses in their cell with her Keyblade. "The barrier is unbreakable." Kairi, Belle, Jasmine, and Snow White had been dumped into the same cell as Aurora, Cinderella, and Alice. Upon their arrival, Kairi immediately went into a panicked frenzy as she tried to escape their prison. Her attempts to escape grew even more desperate when Master Xehanort arrived to taunt them accompanied by a repossessed Terra and Ludor.

"No!" Kairi snapped as she continued striking the force field keeping the seven young women imprisoned. "I refuse to accept that. There has to be a way out!"

"Kairi, calm down," Jasmine urged. "I know you care about Sora but panicking right now won't accomplish anything." Realizing the princess of Agrabah was right, Kairi slumped down in her cell in defeat. After a few moments of catching up on each other's lives, the other six princesses began talking about what Xehanort was going to do to them, and what they were going to do about it. While this was going on, Kairi was reminded of a conversation she and the others had had with Master Yen Sid back before they'd woken up Ven. About what would happen when all seven Princesses of Heart combined their powers together.

"We need to make the Key to Return Hearts!" Kairi declared before going on to explain to her fellow Princesses what that meant. Everyone quickly realized that doing so would temporarily remove their Hearts from their bodies, which was exactly what Xehanort wanted. Kairi had countered by pointing out that if they didn't do it, Xehanort was prepared to kill them all for their hearts of pure light, and that since they created it themselves, then they could send it wherever they wanted it to be formed. As long as someone like Sora had the Key, Xehanort would never be able to get their hearts.

So after a few minutes of trial and error, the seven Princesses of Heart combined all of their powers together, sending their pure Hearts out of their bodies and off into the universe in search of the Keyblade Masters they knew would know what to do with it.


	64. Twilight Town

#### Twilight Town – Mansion Dining Room

#### 5,995 B.C.

 **"** **Foreteller,"** the Master of the Unicornis Union looked up from his book as one of his warriors poked their head in through the open door.  **"Ephemer of the Unchained is here to see you,"** the young woman continued. The Keyblade Master silently nodded for them to send the man in. Before Vulpeus' trusted confidant walked through the door, he pulled his unicorn-head hood over his face, covering his silver hair in the process.

 **"** **Are the rumors true?"** The Unchained Key bearer asked without preamble once he entered the room. After seven years of war, the young man before Unicronis had changed rapidly. Besides the burn marks on his face from the Sinking of Atlantis, Ephemer's whole attitude had changed. Gone was the idealistic teenager who Vulpeus saw as a trusted friend. The years of warfare had taken their toll on the young man, hardening him into a ruthless warrior crusading for revenge. His attitude towards authority had been changed as well. Were any other Keyblade wielder to address him so flippantly, Unicronis would have severely reprimanded them. But after Ava's murder, Ephemer had long since lost what little respect he had for the surviving Foretellers, and Unicronis had simply learned to take the young man's disrespect in stride.

 **"** **Unfortunately,"** he answered.  **"My spies were able to confirm that Leopardos has begun mining in the mountains of Daybreak Town in search of the X – Blade. It's only a matter of time before he unearths the Master's weapon."**

 **"** **Thank you,"** Ephemer replied before turning on his heels and marching out of the room.

 **"** **Wait!"** Unicornis called out after him.  **"Where are you going?"**

 **"** **Someone's got to keep that thing out of the traitors' hands,"** the Unchained snapped angrily. **"And if it isn't going to be your people, or Anguis', it'll have to be mine."** Before Unicornis could tell the young man that they needed to pool their resources since Leopardos and Ursus controlled Daybreak Town, Ephemer left the mansion before stepping into a portal of Light. A short while later and a few thousand miles away, he emerged into the dimly lit command center of the building he and his fellow Unchained were using as their headquarters.

 **"** **It's time,"** he announced to the assembled Keyblade wielders.  **"Leopardos cannot be allowed to get his murdering hands on the X – Blade. Anguis and Unicornis will not be of any help. If the traitors are to be stopped, we must take Daybreak Town ourselves."**

* * *

#### The Lanes Between – Sora, Donald, and Goofy's Gummi Ship

#### July 30, 2015

"Can't this thing go any faster!?" Sora exclaimed as Donald flew the Gummi Ship towards Twilight Town as fast as realistically possible. Everyone could tell that Sora was anxious to get to the World That Never Was and rescue Kairi. But there was another layer of urgency for storming Xehanort's citadel. In the chaos of the battle in Cable Town, Xehanort had managed to abscond with all five copies of the Book of Prophecies. Knowing the power that those books possessed, the heroes were scrambling to get to the World That Never Was as quickly as they could.

"Calm down, Sora," Donald reassured. "I'm going as fast as I can. Badgering me to fly faster won't make us get there any sooner. You have to be patient." Unfortunately, the duck's pleas fell on deaf ears. This was the second time the Organization had kidnapped Kairi and once again he'd been helpless to stop them from taking her. He was furious with Xehanort and now he was on the warpath. He would stop at nothing to bring Kairi back safely.

"I can't be patient!" he snapped. "Kairi could be dead right now and you don't even care!"

"SORA! ENOUGH!" Goofy shouted, his uncharacteristic anger shocking Sora out of his fear-driven frenzy. "You're not the only one who cares about Kairi," the dog continued. "But if we fly around too fast we'll crash into an asteroid and get ourselves killed before we even get to her. Do you want that!?"

"No…" Sora sobbed sadly as he buried his face in Goofy's shoulder. "I'm sorry I yelled at you guys. I just…"

"Say no more," Goofy replied. "We understand." One of the things Goofy had learned as a parent was that sometimes, no matter how old they got, when a kid was really stressed, they needed a chance to just let it all out instead of bottling everything up inside. So he stood there, giving Sora a comforting hug as the seventeen year old cried from all the stress of the last few days. With all the travelling and fighting they'd been doing for the last few weeks, they hadn't really had much time to really rest and relieve all their stress, and the pressure was clearly starting to get to Sora. After a few minutes, he finally calmed down. Letting out all the pent up stress clearly helped him feel a little better.

As Goofy let the young man out of the bear hug, Sora perked up when he heard a voice. A faint whisper on the nonexistent wind, but clear and distinct nonetheless. Kairi's voice.

 _Sora…_ he heard her whisper. He immediately turned towards the sound of his girlfriend's voice. As he squinted into the darkness around the ship, he could just make out seven small points of light in the distance off the ship's starboard side. As the seven lights began to glow brighter and brighter, the Keyblade Master quickly realized what the lights were.

"Donald," he said, a tiny ray of hope blossoming in his voice. "Would you open the starboard exterior airlock?"

"What!?" the duck exclaimed. "Why?" Without saying a word, Sora simply lifted his arm up and pointed at the seven lights making a beeline for their Gummi Ship. Donald quickly followed the young man's train of thought and complied with his request. As he did so, Sora raced down to the airlock. When he go there, he peered through the window of the interior hatch and watched the breathtaking sight of the seven pure lights of the Princesses of Heart merge together to form a familiar shape. The Key to Return Hearts.

Unlike the incomplete, dark Keyblade Riku had used in Hollow Basion all those years ago, the Key to Return Hearts had a shaft and blade comprised of a transulecent white crystal, instead of the deep black of Riku's dark Key. Instead of the dark Keyblade's blood red, the hilt was made of pure gold. After the outer airlock closed behind the newly created blade, Sora opened the inner hatch and stared as the blade made from seven pure hearts, from  _Kairi's_ heart, floated in the air as if hung from an invisible plaque on a wall. With a deep breathe, Sora grabbed it by the hilt.

As he grabbed the Key of pure light out of the air, a buzzing sensation raced up his arm towards his heart. Almost immediately, he realized what was happening and why. Kairi's heart was trying to communicate with him from inside the blade. She was reassuring him that once the Key to Return Hearts had served its purpose, it would break apart, and the Princesses hearts would all be returned to their respective bodies. Comforted to know that Kairi was alright in spirit, if not in body, Sora walked back up to the bridge to show Donald and Goofy the new Keyblade.

* * *

#### Twilight Town – Base of the Mountain

#### July 30, 2015

"That's new," Goofy commented a few hours later as they emerged from the mountain in which they'd parked their Gummi Ship. With technology loaned from Radiant Garden and The Grid, the city government of Twilight Town had carved out an air and spacecraft hangar in the upper reaches of the mountains on which the town had been built. Needless to say, it made finding a place to park their ship where it couldn't be potentially damaged or stolen much easier. Once they emerged from the hangar, they started the long walk downhill towards the Old Mansion.

The plan was fairly simple. All three teams would meet up in Twilight Town's old mansion before pressing on to the World That Never Was. Since they had all of the Princesses' hearts inside the Key, they had decided over the short-range radio that they would use the extra time the seven Princesses had bought them to spend the night at the mansion so that they were all well rested for the final battle with Xehanort. It was easy enough in theory, but like many things, it remained to be seen how well the idea would fare in practice.

As they reached the station plaza, they were far from surprised when they ran into three old friends. Hayner, Pence, and Olette were glad to see the trio again, but they were horrified to hear that Kairi had been kidnapped again. Despite their lack of combat experience or training, the three teens resolved to do whatever they could to help rescue Kairi and stop Xehanort once and for all.

The enlarged group immediately sprang into action when several Heartless materialized inside the plaza. Knowing how Xehanort operated, Sora knew that the evil Keyblade Master was was going to leave the Princesses alone until the heroes were storming his base, getting their hopes up before crushing them beneath his boot.  _Well he's in for a really big surprise then,_ Sora thought to himself as he, Donald, and Goofy immediately formed a protective triangle around the three unarmed Twilight Town residents before turning to doing what they did best: slaying monsters.

* * *

#### Daybreak Town – Seacoast Park

#### 5,995 B.C.

From his vantage point atop the lighthouse observation tower, Ephemer watched Daybreak Town burn. They'd landed on the shores of the capital only a few hours before, and the Unchained warriors had quickly cleared out the park as a landing zone. Unfortunately, the way across the bridge into town was blocked by a contingent of Ursus troops. Althought the Unchained had more weapons, the darkened Keyblade wielders still outnumbered them twenty to one. When he realized that they wouldn't be able to break through with Keyblades, he'd called in an airstrike. Now they were just waiting for it to land.

Another explosion bloomed along the coast as Unicornis warships bombarded the shoreline. Though too small to be visible from this vantage point, Ephemera was aware of the Anguis soldiers rowing towards the beach.  ** _Cowards,_** he insulted the other unions to himself.  ** _The only reason they're attacking at all is so they can take the credit when this is all over. If I hadn't made the first move they would have just sat back and let the traitors destroy the world._** He was distracted from his thoughts by the roar of an Atlantean Marag. An instant later, he shielded his eyes as the Ursus troops occupying the bridge were vaporized in a blinding flash of teal blue light.

He winced and placed his hand over the burns on his face as he recalled Emma's death. Just because there had been Unchained who had brought those Marags to their side when they defected from the Leopardos and Ursus unions during the war, didn't mean the presence of the weapons which killed the love of his life made him any more comfortable. Shaking himself back to the present, he leapt down from the tower and ordered his troops across the bridge. The siege of Daybreak Town had begun.

Blood flowed through the streets and dark smoke filled the air as the three armies fought their way through Keyblade Wielders and Heartless alike in the battle to stop Leopardos, Ursus, and the Outcast from getting their hands on the X – Blade. Despite the contempt he felt for the other Foretellers, Ephemera was at least grateful that Unicornis and Anguis had enough common sense not to try and kill him for interfering with their union's business when they were in the middle of a battle.

After almost an entire day of nonstop combat, the three armies had managed to secure a large portion of Daybreak Town. The Foretellers camped out in the second district while their troops took shifts firing artillery up at the clock tower throughout the night. But despite its strategic significance, the citadel in the center of Daybreak Town was not their main target. The primary target of the siege was the traitors' mining operations within the mountains. That was where the rumors indicated that the (former) Grand Master's blade had been hidden away. If any one of the three traitors got their hands on that ancient weapon, nothing could ever hope to stop them, save for the Gauntlet of the First Keyblade Master. But that relic had been lost since the beginning of time.

 ** _We're on our own, as usual,_** Ephemer thought to himself as he laid down on his cot in the command tent the two Foretellers had set up. Despite his contempt for their decision making skills, he had to admit that Unicornis and Anguis were still decent people when push came to shove. At least he wouldn't have to worry about them stabbing him in the back while he slept. Comforted by that thought, he drifted off into slumber with the rhythmic explosions of cannonballs, Meteors, and Firaga spells against the steel and concrete of Daybreak Town's clock tower echoing throughout the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little bit of trivia, the Gauntlet of the First Keyblade Master is another little easter egg for the sequels that knowledgeable readers can easily guess what it is. It won't have anything to do with this story, it's just a little bit of Keyblade War lore that will be expanded on in the sequels.


	65. The Afternoon Streets

#### Twilight Town – Tram Common

#### July 30, 2015

"TAKE THIS!" Sora shouted as he summoned a Pegasus drawn chariot that demolished the surrounding Heartless with Thundaga spells. Because of the high quantity of Heartless in their way, it had taken at least an hour just to get from the Station Plaza down here to the Tram Common. Behind him, Donald and Goofy were flinging spells and shields at the airborne monstrosities. A little further back, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were bludgeoning the Shadows and Soldiers on the ground with shields bought from one of the shops on Station Heights.

Sora waded through the fray towards the hole in the wall leading to the mansion, turning his Keyblade into fire-spewing pistols as he did so. The flames burned the Heartless, forcing them to back away.  _At least they're not coming after me in packs,_ he thought to himself. When they'd passed by the entrance to the Sandlot, the Shadows had come flying after them in  _torrents._ Sora had had to use a lot of Magic and parkour to defeat the massive swarm. Thankfully, the other small Heartless weren't capable of achieving such a feat.

Donald and Goofy raced over to him as he activated a new summon, creating three spinning teacups out of thin air. Hopping into the enchanted cups, the three heroes quickly decimated the surrounding Heartless. After checking that the Key to Return Hearts was still firmly secured with his belt, Sora turned his attention back to the battle to find that the ranks of the enemy had been thinned considerably. He once again called up the enchanted pirate ship, using its circular swinging to clear out the last of the monsters.

With the Heartless in tram common gone, the group of six walked through the hole in the wall that lead to the woods on the outskirts of town. The woods were relatively quiet, and turned out to be completely devoid of any Heartless or Nobodies. Once they got to the mansion, however, they quickly found a swarm of Nobodies crowding the mansion courtyard, attempting to force their way inside the building. After warning Heyner, Pence, and Olette to stay back this time, the trio rushed into the swarm. With their combined combat skill, the empty husks were vanquished within minutes. Once the coast was clear, the group headed inside to recover. They were the last ones to arrive, so Lea already had dinner cooking by the time the six walked in.

* * *

#### Daybreak Town – Mountains

#### 5,995 B.C.

 **"** **Damn it!"** Ephemer cursed once the courier had delivered the news. Anguis and Unicornis cast nervous glances at him as he slammed his fist down on the table in their command tent. The scout had just reported in from the northern front that the traitors had unearthed the X – Blade up in the mountains. This was not what the war weary Unchained needed to hear. After a week-long siege, the three armies had driven the combined forces of Ursus and Leopardos out of Daybreak Town and into the mountains. With the X – Blade now in the hands of the enemy, all the forces of light were gathered in one place, ready for the slaughter.

The worst news however, was what came after the blade's discovery. The three traitors had quickly started to bicker over who would be the one to wield the legendary weapon. The argument quickly escalated into a three way duel to the death, with Ursus ultimately emerging as the victor. With the infinite power of the X – Blade in the hands of a power hunger madman like Ursus, the battle to come was going to be a massacre. As if on cue, an ominous black cloud appeared over the mountains and moving swiftly towards Daybreak Town.

As it got closer, the three leaders realized to their horror that what they thought was a cloud was in reality a swarm of the Heartless. Millions of them, hovering in the air like bombs waiting to be dropped. And standing in midair, just below the swarm of demons, was Ursus, wielding the unmistakable gold, silver, and turquoise shape of the X – Blade. War horns sounded throughout what was left of the magnificent city of Daybreak Town as Unchained, Anguis, and Unicornis troops prepared for battle. For several long minutes, no living thing moved. Every Keyblade wielder in the city glared angrily up at Ursus. Finally, the traitor lifted the X – blade up in the air… and then death rained down on the once proud capital of the world.

Every Key bearer in Daybreak Town frantically cast every offensive projectile spell in their repertoire as rapidly and repeatedly as they could while Heartless fell from the sky on the people below. It was as if, Ephemer reflected, the creatures of darkness had blotted out the sun as they rained down from above. The only light sources visible through the storm of monsters were stray explosions from Meteor, Mega Flare, and Firaga Burst spells, and the fires burning on the streets below. As the Anguis and Unicronis unions fought to destroy the dark horde, Ephemer realized that the battle was already lost. Ursus needed to be stopped, but he refused to sacrifice his troops in a hopeless battle.

He turned to his lieutenant and gave the order for the Unchained army to withdraw from Daybreak Town. His people would live to fight another day, but as Ava's confidant, he had to stand with the Foretellers and stop this madness. Most of the Anguis and Unicronis casualties in the last seven years were the result of the two Foretellers arrogantly throwing as many bodies at enemy encampments as they could, no matter how hopeless the battle in question was. He would not follow their example and treat those who followed him out of loyalty to Ava like cannon fodder. He nodded in grim satisfaction as he caught glimpses of his fellow Unchained falling back toward the boats in Seacoast Park. He might die, but others would live and continue the fight.

* * *

#### Twilight Town – Old Mansion

#### July 30, 2015

"This place really brings back a lot of unpleasant memories for me," Lea remarked as he, Hayner, Pence, and Olette sat in the backyard after dinner. Being back in this mansion, in the place where Roxas  _died_ made him feel slightly melancholy about the whole situation. Sure, Roxas and Xion were still buried somewhere in Sora's subconscious, but it just wasn't the same being able to talk to them face to face.  _I just hope none of these three ask about it,_ he thought to himself.  _Even if they never really met Roxas, knowing that he thought he was friends with them in the fake Twilight Town just makes all my memories of this place more unpleasant._

"Why?" Olette asked innocently. "What happened?"  _I spoke too soon,_ he chastised himself before taking a deep breath. Reluctantly, he told the three Twilight Town teenagers the story of what had happened to Roxas and Xion. From beginning to end. The good times, and the bad. Everything leading from their induction into the Organization to Roxas' death in the virtual Twilight Town. To his surprise, the three teens were easily able to grasp what he was saying (he supposed he had the Coalition distributing information on Heartless and Nobodies to thank for that).

Even though they'd only ever met Roxas once in their life, they couldn't help but feel guilty upon hearing how he'd been friends with their simulated counterparts. Lea was actually touched by their response. He had been expecting them to be freaked out that someone they didn't know thought they were his friends, or that the simulation of Twilight Town was programmed to behave exactly like the real thing, but to his surprise, none of the acted that way at all. After hearing about Roxas' life in the simulated Twilight Town, they wanted to be friends with him for real.

The former Flurry of Dancing Flames couldn't help but smile at their compassion. Which was why once he had gone inside to use the restroom, he let out a few tears of bittersweet happiness once the coast was clear and nobody was around to see. A few minutes later, he was walking through the hallways back to the inner courtyard when Riku called out to him from the open door to the dining room.

"Hey Lea," he began. "Have you seen Sora at all? Nobody's seen him since dinner."

"Can't say that I have," the red-head answered while his mind immediately began speculating where the seventeen year old Keyblade Master could have gone. Xehanort could have found out about the Key to Return Hearts and snuck in to steal it, only for Sora to follow him back to Never Was in order to rescue Kairi on his own. Or one of Maleficent's allies could have snuck into the mansion looking to kill someone in revenge for Maleficent's apparent death and Sora just happened to be the first Keyblade wielder they found or… His eyes nearly popped out his head as he realized what the young man was planning.

"I figured out where he went," he announced before quickly explaining to Riku where exactly Sora had gone and what he was preparing to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suggest you grab a box of tissues because the next chapters were specifically planned to press that great big button in the middle of the heart marked "Feels."


	66. Inside the Mind

#### Twilight Town – Mansion Computer Room

#### July 30, 2015

Despite the fact that everything was technically made of data and therefore shouldn't have any scent, the computer room in the simulated Twilight Town nevertheless smelled musty when Sora walked out of the digitizer. He looked to his left and saw the shattered computer screens indicating that the fake Twilight Town was still running. The door to the left led nowhere, just like last time. But unlike last time, he knew why. Once he had awakened from his Namine-induced coma two years ago, Ansem the Wise had decided that the simulation of Twilight Town was no longer needed. So he deleted everything in the computer except for the simulation of the Mansion's lower levels. That part couldn't be erased because of the link to the World That Never Was Axel had created after his duel with Roxas.

Thinking of that snapped Sora out of his reflection and back to the reason he was here. With steely resolve, he walked through the door on the right into the Basement Hall to find Axel's – now Lea's – portal to the World That Never Was miraculously still open even after two years. But as much as he wanted to dive in and rescue Kairi here and now, he had to wait. He had a promise to keep. Reluctantly, he walked past the dark portal and into the Basement Corridor. Realizing that with the amount of pods in the room, this was the best place to start, he stopped walking.

Sora gathered his thoughts for a moment to prepare himself for what he was about to do. Before the group had left for Cable Town that morning, he and Master Yen Sid had talked about what information had been gleaned from Ansem's research data, and whether it could be used to fulfill his promise. As it turned out it could, but there wasn't a 100% guarantee that his plan would work. Which was why he had come into the simulated Twilight Town alone. He didn't want to get Lea's hopes up only to crush them if he failed.

Knowing that waiting wasn't going to make things happen any faster, he took a deep breath. As he breathed out, he removed the Key to Return Hearts from its place wedged between his belt and his back. With the Keyblade of pure light in his hands, he took another breath and steeled himself for what he was about to do. Sure he'd technically had practice, but Ven's heart had been so much easier compared to what he was trying to do now. His mind made up, he relaxed as he plunged the Key to Return Hearts into his chest. It was time to fulfill his promise to Roxas and Xion and give them their lives back. A satisfied smile crept onto his face as a small light emerged from the tip of the Key just before he lost consciousness.

* * *

#### Inside The Mind – Headquarters

#### July 30, 2015

As Sora groggily regained consciousness what felt like a few moments later, he heard voices muttering around him.

"How is he here?" one of them asked.

"Does this mean he's dead?" inquired another.

"I know he wanted to bring back Roxas and Xion but I wasn't expecting it to go  _this_ far!" a third voice exclaimed. As Sora regained awareness, he realized that he was lying on a soft, flat surface that felt like carpeting. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on the ground in a large room that resembled a cross between his bedroom back home on the Destiny Islands and the small island where he, Riku, and Kairi liked to hang out. Behind him was a large control console covered in buttons and levers of all shapes and sizes, and on either side of the console were shelves holding multicolored orbs with different images moving around inside.

As he stood up from the bench and took in his surroundings, he noticed five people standing in front of him, their expressions ranging from confused and nervous to terrified and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Each of the five guys had one thing in common, however. With the exception of the tall, thin purple one or the bald red one, the all had hairstyles that matched his own. And all five were wearing the exact same clothes that he was wearing now.

"Um…" he said nervously, unsure of where he was or who these people were. "Hi." Immediately, the purple man launched into a panicked frenzy spouting off things so quickly Sora couldn't even begin to understand what he was saying. Eventually, the one with yellow skin and blue hair managed to talk the other guy down from his ranting.

"Fear, calm down," the guy said. And the purple skinny guy reluctantly did. Once everyone had calmed down, introductions were made. Apparently by using the Key to Return Hearts on himself, Sora had somehow managed to transport himself inside his own mind. The five people dressed like him were the anthropomorphic personifications of his emotions: the yellow one was Joy, blue was Sadness, red was Anger, green was Disgust, and purple was Fear. Joy gave Sora a quick explanation of how the mind world worked, and that in order to release Roxas and Xion, he most likely have to bring them back here to Headquarters.

Sora was a little confused as to how it was even possible for him to interact with his own mind like this, but thankfully Fear had the answer. Interacting with the mind world essentially amounted to a lucid dream, but in order for Sora to be able to see what was going, the reality distortion filter in the cameras used in Dream Productions was removed, allowing him to see the inside of his mind as it was. Sora was a little concerned about the existence of the mind world, questioning how much free will he had given the existence of the console and the idea bulbs. Fear quickly put those fears to rest by explaining that while they caused the feelings he felt, he ultimately chose how he reacted to each situation, not them.

Once all that confusion and existential angst was cleared up, Sora decided that it was time to get going and bring Roxas and Xion back to Headquarters. According to Sadness, Roxas usually spent most of his time bouncing between Imagination Land and Long-Term Memory, while Xion liked to spend her days in Dream Productions and hang with Roxas in Imagination Land at night. Since it wasn't nighttime just yet and Roxas would most likely be in Long-Term Memory, Sora decided to go there first. But before he left, Joy had one question.

"Would you rather take the Recall Tubes or the Train of Thought?"

* * *

#### Daybreak Town – Clock Tower Castle

#### 5,995 B.C.

 **"** **STOP!"** Ephemer roared as he and the two Foretellers raced into the lowest level of Daybreak Town's clock tower to find Ursus standing there with the X – Blade next to an open hole in the floor. But their urgency wasn't just from the fact that Ursus was wielding the X – Blade, but from the hole he was standing next to. For it was no mere hole. Ursus stood next to The Well of The Kingdom, a massive shaft that led straight down to the world's core, to Kingdom Hearts itself.

 **"** **Brother, what do you hope to accomplish!?"** Anguis demanded as she, Ephemer, and Unicornis approached The Well. As they did the walls shook as their forces outside continued to lay siege to the castle.  **"What do you hope to gain by attacking Kingdom Hearts itself!?"**

 **"** **I am not attacking it, sister,"** the darkened Foreteller replied.  **"In order to ensure we are powerful enough to protect the world from all threats, the X – Blade needs to absorb the power of Kingdom Hearts. Only then will I be strong enough to protect everyone."**

 **"** **Draining Kingdom Hearts will destroy the world, brother!"** Unicornis protested.  **"The protection of the world does not fall on your shoulders alone. The burden is on** ** _all_** **of us. Taking more power for your own selfish ends will not change that."**

 **"** **It is my burden to bear,"** Ursus retorted.  **"You all spend more time bickering with each other than you do actually doing anything about the problems of the world that lie just beneath the surface. While the cities of the world have been going for each other's throats, your only concern has been stopping every Union who opposes you. So if none of you are going to do your job, then I will!"** He lowered the blade into place above The Well, preparing to use its ability to call on the power of Kingdom Hearts to drain the source of all light of its power.

 **"** **NO!"** Ephemer roared as he ran towards the traitor. The Unchained warrior leaped into the air to bring it down Ursus' head, only to be stopped when Anguis tackled him to the ground. But before he could question her, Unicronis' blade whirled through the air and wedged itself in the far wall. A moment later, the sound of shattering glass and steel echoed through the basement chamber as the X – Blade shattered. None of the people inside had any time to think before a massive explosion ripped through the room.

In an instant, the clock tower and everyone in it were completely disintegrated as the dome of white-hot fire expanded outwards. With the exception of the ancient tomes, which had already been evacuated from the city before the Rain of Heartless, everything in Daybreak Town, living and non-living, was reduced to ash. Only the Keyblades of the fallen remained as Daybreak Town and the surrounding landscape were incinerated. And as the explosion spread the world broke apart.

The force of the X – Blade's destruction sent a beam of fire down at the world's Heart. At Kingdom Hearts. The power of the explosion, combined with the shattered remains of the X – Blade, sent chunks of the planet blasting off into space, taking their populations with it. The ruins of Daybreak Town were the last to go. As the chunk of land that was once the capital of the united world tore through space, the fires of the explosion finally faded. All the fires left behind were a barren desert, the mountains in which the blade had been unearthed, and an endless field of Keyblades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever since I saw Inside Out this past summer, I just knew it had to be included in Kingdom Hearts 3. The whole premise and world of the movie just makes so much sense within the Kingdom Hearts universe, and given the whole thing about Nobodies not being able to feel emotion until they start regrowing hearts, it has so much storytelling potential beyond just seeing what Character X's Mind World is like compared to the ones we see in the movie.
> 
> Now that we're literally inside Sora's head, you can see where I'm going with this part of the story now as far as bringing back Roxas and Xion. The explanation of the whole "Lucid Dreaming" thing and how free will fits in with the Emotions and idea bulbs is based on the amazing Inside Out fanfic Intercom, which is basically a continuation fic of the movie with a very fun and interesting premise. Another fanfic I thoroughly recommend for any Inside Out fan. Another source of inspiration for including Inside Out in this fic would be the amazing KH/IO crossover, At The Core of Being, a great story that gives an interesting interpretation of where Xion went after her death.


	67. Bundle of Joy

#### Inside The Mind – Imagination Land

#### July 30, 2015

"What are these things?" Sora asked as he dodged another of the strange blue monsters that had appeared when he, Roxas, and Fear had entered Imagination Land. The Recall Tube had deposited Sora and Fear (who insisted on accompanying the teen to protect him from potential dangers of human-to-mind interaction) on the border between Long Term Memory and Imagination Land. Coincidentally, they got out just as Roxas was walking through on his way to Imagination Land. Roxas was surprised that Sora had actually come inside his own mind world for him and Xion, but Sora had countered that he always kept his promises.

"Nobody knows!" Roxas shouted back as he whirled through a floating red version that looked like a jar. They'd encountered the monsters as they jogged through Imagination Land, and they'd been a persistent thorn in the group's side since then. Eventually, Fear was able to shout to Sora that in Imagination Land, he could make change what was happening around him with a thought. Using this to his advantage, Sora was able to make all of the monsters disappear just by picturing Imagination Land as it normally looked without the monsters present.

Once they were gone, Sora and Roxas raced through the remainder of Imagination Land towards Dream Productions. According to Fear, who was sprinting along behind since the two were taller than the emotions, time passed more slowly in the outer layer of the mind world than it did in Headquarters. Meaning that an hour here was at least two out in the real world. So they had to finish up in here as quickly as possible.

The welcome they received in Dream Productions was astounding to the teenage Keyblade Master. While Roxas and Fear were already familiar with the small, jelly bean-shaped Mind Workers, they treated Sora almost like a celebrity. After a few seemingly endless minutes of signing autographs, they were eventually able to ask about Xion's whereabouts. The mind workers directed the party to Soundstage D. They walked in just as Xion finished singing along to a song she had playing over the loudspeakers. None of them had heard it before but Sora was able to hear the words "defying gravity" through the walls as they walked to the door.

"It's nice to finally met you in person, Xion," he greeted warmly once his Replica had finished the song. Xion was as surprised to see Sora there as Roxas had been, but like Roxas, she took it in stride.

"You didn't have to do this for us, Sora," she said as they walked out of the studio and toward the train of thought, stopping to gather the two former Organization member's core memories along the way.

"Of course I did," he replied. "I promised you guys I'd give you your own lives back. And even if I didn't, I'd still do it anyway. After everything you guys have gone through, you deserve to live your own lives." That put a stop to the duo's protests as Sora drove his Train of Thought back to Headquarters. Once they got back, Roxas asked the question of how they were supposed to leave Sora's mind. But before anyone could answer that question, the world went dark.

Fear immediately switched back into panic mode as the lights in Headquarters faded. Under normal circumstances the lights all turn off during the night and the sky would change to indicate that Sora was asleep. Because he was currently lucid dreaming, everything from the sky to the lights in Headquarters was locked halfway between day and night modes. But once Sora, Roxas, and Xion got within seven feet of the console, they disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" the nerve-shaped emotion shrieked. "WHAT DO WE DO!? THIS IS VERY, VERY BAD!"

"Fear, calm down!" Anger shouted. "Sora went into REM sleep."

"But what about Roxas and Xion?" Fear stuttered. "They're just gone. That's never happened before and we have no idea what it means."

"Oh I think we know exactly what it means," Joy interjected with a smile. Understanding dawned on the other four emotions' faces.

"Well we won't know if it worked until he wakes up," Sadness commented with his usual gloom.

* * *

#### Unkown World – Unknown Location

#### July 30, 2015

**Cue Roxas' Theme Music**

For a few minutes, Organization XIII's former number 13 just floated in midair, unconscious. For what felt like hours, he floated in silence. But as he began to regain consciousness, the silence was swiftly broken.

"Roxas!" a familiar voice called out through the darkness.  _Sora?_ Roxas asked back in his head, trying to communicate with his complete self, but to no avail. He groggily opened his eyes to find himself encased in a large white egg. The interior was lined with a grid of teal-glowing circuitry. He knew what this was: the pod that Sora had slept in during his coma when Namine restored his memories.  _But why did the workers at Dream Productions set this up?_ He wondered mentally.  _And how did I get back to the studios anyway? The last thing I remember is me, Xion, and Sora walking into Sora's Headquarters. But… what happened after that?_

After a quick yawn, he absentmindedly put his hand on his chest and quickly jerked back in surprise. Cautiously, he put his hand back, unsure if he had imagined what he had felt. But it wasn't his imagination, to his surprise, real, genuine surprise, he could feel the pounding of a heartbeat inside his chest. For a moment he just floated there in shock, struggling to comprehend what had happened. He knew from what Xemnas had told Sora that he, Xion, and Lea had started to grow their own hearts but he'd never actually been able to feel his own heartbeat before. Even when he had been living inside Sora's mind, he'd never really been able to feel the beating of his own heart. But before he could question anything further, another voice called out, muffled by the thick metal of the pod.

"Roxas," a girl's voice said.  _Namine?_ He thought skeptically.  _How did you...?_ But another voice interrupted his thoughts before he could start figuring anything else.

"Roxas, wake up," called the voice of the girl he'd known almost as long as he'd been in the Organization.

"Xion…" he whispered happily. Tears of joy welled up in his eyes as he realized what was happening. Part of his mind remained in denial, refused to accept the fact that what was happening wasn't a dream. Those fears and doubts were silenced when the lights of the circuitry dimmed as the Memory pod began to open. Roxas wiped the tears out of his eyes as he looked at the exterior of the pod to find Namine and Xion standing at the edge of the green rings that surrounded the pod.

Roxas practically sprinted out of the pod as he leapt out and hugged the two girls. He started to cry as he realized that for the first time in almost two years, he was free. He was his own person, not just Sora's shadow. He looked up to see Sora standing awkwardly near the door leading out into the mansion corridor, unsure of whether he should be there or not. With a smile, Roxas motioned for his human self to come over and join in the group hug.

"Thank you," he whispered when Sora was soon entangled in the hug. "For never giving up on us."

* * *

#### Twilight Town – Mansion Computer Room

#### July 30, 2015

"How long ago did he log in?" Lea asked as Riku frantically typed at the computer. Realizing that the portal to the World That Never Was remained open inside the virtual world, they'd raced into the computer room to find the computer running and the Digitizer beam to the simulated Twilight Town turned on."If it wasn't too long ago, we can catch up and stop him from doing anything stupid."

"It won't be the two of us," Riku replied as he checked the access log for the Digitizer. "If he's already in Never Was, we might as well bring everyone along."

"We're not ready yet," the Flurry of Dancing Flames protested. "We all need sleep after the battle in Cable Town. If we go in now, we'll all be massacred." Before Riku could come up with a witty and sarcastic reply, the computer beeped. The Keyblade Master turned back to the monitor to find a window popped up warning them not to touch anything because the transporter was in the process of digitizing something. In a swirl of glowing computer code, Sora walked out of the digitizer.

"Sora!" Riku exclaimed as his friend emerged from the Twilight Town simulation. "Where have you been? Hang on, let me turn off the beam first."

"No! Don't," Sora interjected before Riku could touch anything. "Don't touch anything yet."

"What? Why?" the older Keyblade Master asked, confused. Lea, however, was not. The redhead's eyes widened as he realized the real reason for the seventeen-year old's sojourn into the virtual world.  _We were afraid of him running off and getting himself killed trying to sneak into the Castle by himself, but what he was really trying to do…_

"You actually did it, didn't you?" the older man asked, cautious about the answer despite the raging inferno in his heart telling him that he already knew the answer. Before Sora could say anything, the computer beeped once more, announcing another, larger, arrival from the virtual world.  _Did he really…?_ Lea asked himself, afraid to get his hopes up. In another cloud of coding, Namine, Xion, and Roxas walked out of the transporter and into the real Twilight Town. Before any of the trio could say a word, he rushed forward and pulled them in for a gigantic group hug. Many tears were shed and it took ten minutes before any conversations regarding the "how" of it all could be asked and answered.

The reason Namine was reawakened too was a both simple and complex at the same time. Basically, even though she was Kairi's Nobody, she was technically formed from Kairi's heart and Sora's body because Kairi's heart had been inside Sora after the destruction of Destiny Islands. When Sora used the Key to Return Hearts to reawaken Roxas and Xion, the link caused Namine's Heart to be reawakened from within Kairi's as well. As for how they were able to have physical bodies again, Lea didn't really understand the mechanics of it. All he could understand that Ansem's data was involved with creating bodies for them. Unlike the programs from The Grid, their bodies had become flesh and blood instead of remaining in the same voxel-makeup of the virtual beings of Radiant Garden's mainframe.

Ultimately, Lea realized, the specifics of how it worked didn't' matter. What mattered was that he had his friends back. Namine was a little hesitant to force herself into the group, but Lea insisted on including her, pointing out that prior to his kidnapping of Kairi, they had been on the run together for a while, so she was part of the group as far as he was concerned. He wasn't even remotely concerned about the fact that they were the exact same age they'd been the last time he'd ever seen them in person. He was too happy to care, and it's not like he had any ground to stand on either, since he'd only been reborn around six months ago.

Despite everyone's exhaustion over the recent events, Lea brought the newly revived former Nobodies upstairs to properly introduce them to Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Just like Lea had been Roxas was touched by how easily they accepted them into their group. After living in the simulation with fake memories, it felt good to finally be friends with the people he knew from Twilight Town for real. They stayed up for a few more hours talking before everyone finally headed to bed. They only had eight hours until they stormed Xehanort's castle, and after the strain of being physically brought back from the dead, they needed all the sleep they could get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the symbolic parallels between Sora's awakening in KH2 and Roxas' rebirth here are deliberate. I thought having Roxas be reborn in the exact same spot that he "died" would help enhance the emotion of the scene.
> 
> How Namine was able to be reawakened even when Kairi's body is in TWTNW is my own theory on the matter. The bit about Ansem's research data allowing for the creation of physical bodies for them is based on a fan theory I found on KHInsider that I felt worked. I just decided to be a little vague about the details because I didn't want to go on with the explanation for too long.
> 
> Before anyone starts badgering me about who I'm going to pair Roxas with, I'm not going to focus on the newly revived Nobodies' love lives until the sequels okay? That said, when it comes to pairing choice I come down on the side of Rokushi. Yeah, I understand the logic of pairing Roxas and Namine because they're Sora and Kairi's Nobodies, but
> 
> 1) There was nothing in any of Roxas and Namine's interactions together that ever suggested that they would be an item.
> 
> 2) The ship tease between Roxas and Xion in Days was much more indicative of mutual attraction.
> 
> With that out of the way, Roxas and Xion coming back the same age they were when they "died" was something I came up with, figuring 1) Ven hasn't apparently aged at all in the last 12-13 years since BBS and putting his Heart back in his chest is unlikely to change that. Plus, I thought it would make sense that Roxas, Xion, and Namine's aging stopped when they rejoined with their human selves, so when they were reborn, they'd pick up from where they left off.
> 
> The title of the chapter is a gender inversion of one of the songs from the Inside Out soundtrack. "We can still stop her" is the name of the tune that plays in the background during the scenes when (MAJOR SPOILER FOR INSIDE OUT) Riley is running away (SPOILERS OVER) and I felt that it would be both a great piece of battle music and an ironic pick for a chapter title. A happy chapter sharing a name with an emotional and intense song seemed like a fun little twist.
> 
> A lot of Inside Out-related stuff, like Sora being taller than the emotions in the Mind World, the whole thing with the lights and the sky, and Sora disappearing when he goes back to normal sleep also comes from Intercom. Roxas and Xion having their own Core Memories, and the names of Sora's Personality Islands come from At The Core of Being.
> 
> The bit about Xion singing Defying Gravity is a shout out to this amazing Kingdom Hearts [fan vid](watch?v=h_QI7V-eNc)  
> And to clarify, the creatures Sora and Roxas were fighting this chapter? The Unversed. You all know what that means, dear readers. Be afraid. Be very afraid. (cue the maniacal laughter in the background)


	68. The World That Never Was

#### Keyblade Graveyard – Seat of War

#### 5,970 B.C.

 _The more things change, the more they stay the same,_ Frederick thought to himself as he stood on the cliffs overlooking the vast desert that only a few decades ago used to be a thriving metropolis. Nothing remained of Daybreak Town's former glory except the Keyblades of the fallen, their lifeless hilts buried in the desert sands, leaving their hilts sticking out of the ground like grave markers for their dead wielders. His fury with Anguis bubbled up as he reflected on the day that had all ended. Although he'd been vaporized in the explosion when the X – Blade was destroyed, but because he was an Unchained, he was quickly reborn in a new body.

His memories of his life as Ephemer came back to him once he turned 21, likely to protect himself from going insane before his brain was physically redeveloped enough to handle them. By that point, the fragments of the worlds had mostly stabilized. Because of the backlash of the Keyblade War, the Earth and its fragments were consumed by the Darkness. Thanks to seven young women, who the surviving Unchained dubbed the Princesses of Heart, his fellow Unchained, and a few powerful Keyblade Wielders, the world was saved. But Kingdom Hearts remained anchored in the realm of Darkness, trapped until the world could be put back together.

And it would be put back together. Because by this point, Frederick knew the truth of the universe's cyclical nature. A millennia or two before the end of the next cycle, the wielders of the Keyblade would put the shattered pieces of the planet back together again. But so much had gone wrong this cycle. That much he understood now. The X – blade was never supposed to be destroyed. By shattering the X – Blade, Unicronis had violated the rules of the universe and irreparably altered the course of history. And worse, the so-called Princesses of Heart were never supposed to exist.

The light of Keyblade Wielders' hearts was supposed to be enough to save the World. Thanks to the existence of these maidens, the legend of the Keyblade War spread. All knowledge of the conflict was supposed to die in Daybreak Town, not be preserved for future generations. Nevertheless, they could all adapt. Despite common elements, each cycle was different from the others after all. After another hour or two, Frederick transformed his Keyblade into its glider form and took off through the Lanes Between. His current body was still an apprentice, so he still needed to return to the Land of Departure after his excursions, after all.

* * *

#### The World That Never Was – Alley To Between

#### July 31, 2015

"Are we all ready?" Riku asked as he looked around at the assembled crowd. Behind him, Sora, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Roxas, and Xion were finishing their final preparations for storming the castle. Since Namine had no combat experience, she, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were aboard the Highwind, waiting for Donald to activate the homing beacon to summon the rest of the Coalition invasion force to the World That Never Was. Once everyone had confirmed they were ready, the duck activated the beacon before the team set off through the alleyways of the Dark City. As they walked out of the Alley to Between and into the Fragment Crossing, Riku put a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Don't worry," he told his friend. "We'll find her. We won't be able to save her by going off the rails from the plan."

"I know," Sora replied grimly. "I know the plan. Xehanort's going to pay for everything he's done." That made Riku a little nervous. They all knew that despite their desire to not have to kill anyone, Xehanort and his incarnations were too dangerous to leave alive. Even so, Sora's uncharacteristic fury was disconcerting. His anger was almost palpable. As Riku did a head count, he began to realize that Xehanort might still want Sora as a vessel. But where last time he'd tried to corrupt Sora through his inexperience dealing with the darkness of his own heart, this time Xehanort appeared to be using Kairi as bait to fuel Sora's anger, hoping that the young man's rage at the old Keyblade Master would build until he eventually gave in to the darkness in order to save Kairi, leaving him wide open for Xehanort to place his own heart inside.

 _That won't happen,_ Riku promised himself as the group fought their way through the legions of Pureblood Heartless swarming the streets of the abandoned city.  _No matter how far Sora goes to save Kairi, I won't let Xehanort take him over like he did Terra. Like he did with me._ Despite the large quantities of high-powered Heartless like Invisibles and Novashadows in the streets, the group was making good time as they raced through the city. It had only taken an hour for the ten of them to reach Memory's Skyscraper. The place brought back memories for Riku and Roxas of their duel here before the latter's capture.

When they reached the Brink of Despair, the four Keyblade Masters, working together, used Blizzaza spells to create a bridge of ice leading into the lower levels of the Organization's stronghold. Sora's expression darkened as he entered the structure for the second time, for the exact same reason. In that moment, Sora swore that when Xehanort was finally destroyed, he would be the one to strike the final blow. After fighting their way through a few more waves of Nobodies, they arrived at the castle's central elevator. Lea adjusted the controls so that they would stop on the level for the Round Room, where the New Organization was most likely gathered.

As they walked through the hallways towards their final showdown with Xehanort, the castle shook. Anyone else would have been concerned with this, but everyone in the room knew the cause. The attack had begun. Coalition Gummi Ships were landing troops from two different points at the top and bottom of the airborne citadel. Former Organization founders Dilan and Aeleus lead volunteers from Coalition member worlds in a two-pronged attack on the castle, with Gummi Ship pilots providing air strikes on Heartless and Nobody clusters when necessary. With a strengthened resolve, the heroes finally reached another elevator taking them up to the top of the Round Room's central platform.

They emerged onto the central dais of the chamber ready for battle. Riku's fears were confirmed when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that even when Xehanort had thirteen vessels, the thirteenth throne remained empty. Off to the side, Terra and Ludor sat up on the thrones while Aqua, Ven, and Lea raised their eyebrows to see Prince Hans and Governor Ratcliffe standing on the lower floor of the room next to Terra and Ludor's thrones. Sora's anger only grew however, when he saw what was different from Roxas' memories of the room. Snow, White, Cinderella, Aurora, Alice, Belle, and Jasmine were chained beneath the chairs once occupied by Vexen, Lexaeus, Axel, Demyx, Larxene, and Roxas. And chained to the pillar, a few feet below Master Xehanort's throne, was Kairi.

For a minute, nobody said anything as the heroes glared defiantly up at the madman who had caused so much pain and suffering in their lives in the last thirteen years. After all this time, they were all ready to make him pay for everything he'd done to them. After another moment of angry silence, he finally decided to speak.

"At long last, the wheels of destiny have delivered you all to my feet," he said smugly.

"More like your actions, Xehanort," Sora snapped angrily. "You're a hypocrite. After all these years, surely you've realized that. You say that darkness isn't evil and needs to be protected from the so-called "tyranny of light," but your actions only prove yourself wrong. Whether your beliefs are true or not, to you, they're just an excuse to justify your own petty cruelty!"

"Cruelty…" the old man responded with a chuckle. "A label used by the weak and feeble-minded to describe necessary actions that they lack the nerve and stomach to undertake themselves."

"And the excuses continue," Lea retorted snarkily. "Whatever, let's just get this fight over with."

"Not quite," the ancient Keyblade Master replied teasingly, waving his finger. "All of us have too many warriors on each side. Fortunately, I have ways of removing those extraneous variables."

"AND SO DO WE!" Sora shouted as he hurled the Key to Return Hearts directly at Terra. The Keyblade struck home, the tip embedded bloodlessly in the possessed Keyblade Wielder's chest. In an instant, the man lost consciousness and slumped forward, gravity pulling him from his throne. Aqua dove over and caught him before he could hit the ground while Sora summoned the blade back to his hands and hurling it at Ratcliffe. Being a despicable villain, nobody bothered to catch the former Governor of Jamestown as he crumpled to the floor. As Aqua pulled Terra up onto the dais, she carefully opened one of his eyes and found his irises had returned to their original blue. He was free.

As the Key to Return Hearts sailed through the air for the third time aimed directly for Ludor, a claymore thrown by Isa flew through the air and shattered the mystic blade. As the Keyblade fell apart, the seven hearts of pure light drifted around the room and returned to their bodies. The remaining Seekers of Darkness grinned insidiously as the seven Princesses slowly regained consciousness.

"How nice of you to join us, Ava," Kairi's eyes widened in fear as she woke up back in her body to hear Xehanort addressing her by the name of her past life.  _He knows,_ she realized with a wave of dread washing over her. Deciding that pretending to play dumb would probably be the best way to find out for sure if she was right, she returned fire.

"Your memory must be going in your old age, Xehanort," she fired back snarkily. "I can't believe you forgot my name already after only a few years." Unfortunately, her worst fears were realized.

"My memory is as precise as ever," the madman replied sternly. "Braig has informed me of the nature of the reincarnation of the central figures of the Keyblade War, and I must say I am impressed. But while I'm intrigued by the fact that Vulpeus became a Princess of Heart after the war, Terra was not the first Foreteller to be a part of my ranks." Everyone's eyes widened as two of the Organization members, the only ones whose hood was still up, removed the cloths concealing their faces.

The hood fell away to reveal a familiar face worn by several people in the last few years. Ventus. Roxas. But what shocked them was that the man in the seat was the face's original wearer, the Foreteller of the Leopardos union, brought forward from the last days of the Keyblade War along with Xehanort's Foreteller incarnation by his time-travelling teenage self. And what shocked and horrified the heroes most of all was that unlike Xehanort's other vessels besides the Replica, Leopardos' eyes were a watery blue, rather that Xehanort's unmistakable golden color. He hadn't been made a vessel. He was in league with Xehanort's plans since the beginning of the Keyblade War. Thus, the old man didn't need to control him to ensure his loyalty.

"You were right," Leopardos told the old man frustratedly. "The reincarnations of my fellow Foretellers are as weak as you said they were."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING WEAK!?" Ven retorted angrily. "AT LEAST I DIDN'T MURDER MY FRIENDS!"

"The others were never our friends, boy," Ven's past life replied sternly. "Even during times of peace, we were the outcast."

"WHY CAN NOBODY EVER GET IT THROUGH THEIR THICK SKULLS THAT JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS THE REINCARNATION OF SOMEONE FROM THE PAST DOESN'T MEAN THAT THEY'RE A CARBON COPY OF THEIR PAST LIFE!?" Kairi shouted furiously, fed up with the constant comparisons.

"Can we just slit the princesses' throats and be done with it?" Ansem asked Master Xehanort pleadingly, just as eager as the heroes to get the battle over with, but for entirely different, darker reasons.

"Very well," the old man nodded. "Take her first," he added, nodding down to indicate the space beneath his throne, where Kairi was struggling to break free of her chains. With a sadistic grin, Xehanort's Heartless warped down so that he was hovering just a few feet from where Kairi was chained up.

"I'm going to enjoy this, Princess," he said tauntingly as a double-bladed spear appeared in his hand with a swirl of blue fire. He pressed the flat of the blade menacingly against Kairi's cheek until he drew blood, oblivious to the sounds around him.

"NO!" Sora roared. And in an instant the seventeen-year old warped across the room in a dark blur faster than Riku or anyone in the Organization had ever moved before. Slamming Xehanort's Heartless into the wall of the throne with his bare hands, Sora punched "Ansem" in the stomach. Hard. As the humanoid monster doubled over in pain and dropped to the ground, Sora kicked off from the pillar he was on and jumped over to Kairi, using his Keyblade to unlock her chains before using an Aeroga spell to gently lower them both to the ground.

"You've lost, Xehanort," he spat furiously after using a Cure spell to heal the cut on his girlfriend's cheek.  _Damn it, kid,_ Braig cursed at Sora mentally.  _You just doomed us all for love._ "Now there's only twelve of you, and twelve of us," the teenager continued, oblivious to the Unchained sniper's inner fury. "Equal light, equal darkness. You can't remake the X – Blade anymore. You've already lost."

"But I only need seven Lights for this battle," the old man replied triumphantly. "Riku, Kairi, and those two from Disney Castle will be sitting my Keyblade War out."

"As if they'd just stand by and let you win, you monster," Sora retorted. "And I'm going to be right there fighting beside them, in case you've forgotten."

"You misunderstand," Master Xehanort countered, his voice remaining smug and triumphant. "They won't be fighting my Seekers of Darkness because they'll be too busy fighting you. Isn't that right, Vanitas?" The old man spanned his fingers with a satisfied grin spreading across his face from ear to ear. Mickey, Aqua, Ven, and the newly conscious Terra's eyes widened in horror as they realized what Xehanort was saying.

But it was already too late. Sora doubled over in pain, clutching his chest as a dark presence invaded his mind and body. As the dark presence swept over his body he found his hands moving on their own, as if whatever was inside his head was testing the controls, test driving its ability to manipulate his body like a puppet on strings. Sora fought against this presence with every fiber of his being, but it continued to gain ground. As Kairi, Riku, Donald, and Goofy raced over to help, he lost control.

"Yes, Master," he heard himself say, echoing the presence in his mind speaking the exact same words with his own voice. As a sinister, dark Keyblade appeared in his hand, he overheard Aqua and Ven explaining the origins of Vanitas. How he had been the embodiment of Ven's darkness. How he'd been a monster. Sora's heart broke as Kairi started crying as she realized what was going on at the same time that he did. Vanitas had been hiding inside his heart, waiting for the right moment to take control and return to Xehanort's side. Trapped in the confines of his own body, Sora silently begged his friends to get away from him.

Suddenly the castle shook again from the force of another Coalition airstrike. Deciding that it was time to begin the Keyblade War anew, Xehanort ordered Vanitas to meet the Organization in the Keyblade Graveyard once he'd "finished dealing with the leftovers." With that, the New Organization warped out of the room through pillars of dark smoke. Ansem, who'd just regained consciousness in time for Xehanort's instructions, followed through a Dark Corridor. Terra, Aqua, Ven, Mickey, Lea, Roxas, and Xion dove through before it could close. Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy stayed behind, promising the others that they'd catch up once they'd saved Sora.

 _No!_ Sora warned helplessly.  _You have to get away from me!_

 _They can't hear you idiot!_ Vanitas thought back tauntingly as the battle began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cyclical nature of the Keyblade War is something that will be touched on in my sequels. It's not going to be like Xehanort's obsession with recreating it, but more dealing with the question of "With two thousand more years before the cycle is supposed to end, can the loop ever be broken, or is the world fated to self-destruct every ten millennia for all eternity?"
> 
> The reason Sora is still able to see through his own eyes even when he's not in control while Ven and Vanitas had this whole duel inside Ven's heart, the answer is pretty simple. In BBS, Vanitas is technically part of Ven's Heart, being the physical embodiment of his darkness and all, so of course they're going to have a Battle in the Center of the Heart for who's dominant. Here, though, Vanitas is basically a parasite piggybacking on Sora's Heart to stay alive. He's not part of Sora's heart, therefore no duel inside Dive to the Heart.


	69. The Keyblade Graveyard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to listen to music to accompany your visualization of the battle sequences in your heads, allow me to recommend a few songs:
> 
> -This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars
> 
> -See Who I am by Within Temptation (especially because there's a fantastic KH fan video on Youtube that uses the song)
> 
> -Rise by Skillet
> 
> -Not Gonna Die (also) by Skillet
> 
> -Closer to the Truth by Cryoshell
> 
> -New Divide by Linkin Park
> 
> -Bring Me to Life by Evanescence
> 
> -Centuries by Fallout Boy

#### The Keyblade Graveyard – Badlands

#### July 31, 2015

Ven parried another strike from his past life as he and Leopardos dueled around the badlands. The past and present were evenly matched. Although Leopardos had more experience with combat, Ven had more skills. Shotlocks and Combat Styles weren't invented until after the Keyblade War, so the younger Key bearer had the element of surprise were technique as concerned. He blocked another Thundaga spell before retaliating with Spark Raid as the battle went on. A few yards away, Terra was locked in combat with his past, Xehanort-possessed self, and like Ven and Leopardos, they were evenly matched.

The battle had begun in earnest once everyone had arrived in the Keyblade Graveyard. Master Xehanort pulled the five Books of Prophecy out of a bag he or one of his allies had evidently stopped to collect on the way here. Everyone rushed towards Xehanort to stop whatever he had planned, but his other vessels and incarnations had diverted them all away from their master. Mickey was dueling Hans over in the Seat of War. Lea and Aqua were fighting off Xehanort's Foreteller incarnation and Isa in the winding corridors of the Twister Trench. Roxas and Xion were duking it out with their former boss down in the Fissure.

Meanwhile, Master Xehanort and the rest of his vessels and incarnations, Ansem, Braig, Young Xehanort, and Ludor, stood at the summit of the ancient pillar. The five copies of the Book of Prophecy hovered in the air before them as Xehanort began murmuring an incantation in the ancient Atlantean language. As he had explained to his underlings once the heroes were out of earshot, he was attempting to use the Books' ability to create illusions of worlds that didn't yet exist to create a facsimile of Daybreak Town. This replica of the original capital would serve as their bunker from which to watch the end of the old world and the beginning of their new one.

As Xehanort mumbled to himself, Braig was silently praying that Sora had the strength of heart to force Vanitas out of his body. Xehanort's plan was doomed to failure. Without the Gauntlet of the First Keyblade Master, any attempt to replicate the X – Blade was doomed to failure. That was why the attempt to have Ventus and Vanitas fuse over a decade ago had failed. It wasn't because their merger was incomplete, but because it was fundamentally impossible to recreate the X – Blade from scratch. Not without the shards of the original.

_Ironic,_ he thought to himself as Xehanort switched from the first copy of the book to the second.  _He thinks that having a battle between his thirteen seekers of darkness and seven guardians of light will act like a magnate for the for the shards, when Sora and Mickey have been lugging them around for the last three years and nobody every figured it out._ An explosion off in the distance on one of the many battlefields of the Graveyard snapped Braig back to the present. He had contingencies for if Vanitas won out. So he stood there an waited, ready to stab Xehanort in the back if the madman got too close to obtaining his goal.

Nearby, in the fissure, fighting against the Nobody who had caused the bulk of the misery they'd gone through in their short lives was proving to be refreshingly cathartic for Roxas and Xion. Roxas deflected a barrage of Ethereal Blades while Xion slid under a blast of black and white lightning bolts before swinging up and knocking their former employer across the area. This stunned Xemnas long enough for the duo to land a few combos before the Superior went back to warping around the room attempting to cheap shot the two of them with his Ethereal Blades.

A hundred or so yards away, Lea and Aqua were tag teaming against their opponents back and forth across the Twister Trench. Aqua back-flipped to avoid the fiery shockwaves of a thrown claymore from Isa while Lea pulled up a Reflega shield to protect himself against a barrage of darkness from the sixth Foreteller. Aqua cast a Blizzaga spell at the Luna Diviner's face before cartwheeling around the stone pillar in the middle of the trench. With a fire spell to the time-displaced Foreteller's head, she and Lea quickly tagged out and traded dance partners once again as the next round of battle began.

Higher up on the Seat of War, Mickey crossed swords with the treacherous Prince Hans. Although the human prince was only armed with an ordinary sword, the piece of Xehanort's heart in his body had greatly enhanced his reflexes to superhuman levels. Mickey fired a blast of light from his Star Seeker, temporarily blinding the prince long enough for the mouse king to land a few combos with his blade. Thankfully, despite his enhanced reflexes, Hans was still far from an acrobat when it came to using the arena to his advantage. Mickey however, took full advantage of his smaller size, sliding under the swings of the man's sword and jumping off the walls for speedy attacks.

Back up in the Badlands, Terra and his past self were at an impasse. His Xehanort-possessed body had access to all of the same skills that he himself was using now. Neither version of Terra, past or present, free or possessed, could gain the advantage for long. For every move in Terra's repertoire, his double had access to as well. For every spell that he cast, his past self would block and retaliate in kind. Terra would have asked Ven for help, but his surrogate younger sibling was too busy with his own opponent to carry on a conversation mid battle.

Although the heroes of light were evenly matched with their opponents, they all knew that right now they were fighting a losing battle. The New Organization outnumbered them nearly two to one, and Xehanort was off doing Kingdom Hearts knows what with the Books of Prophecies and possibly causing untold levels of havoc in the universe at large. As they'd travelled through "Ansem's" corridor of Darkness to reach the Keyblade Graveyard, Aqua relayed what she'd seen when she'd examined the copy of the Book of Prophecy found in Yen Sid's tower before the battle in Cable Town. About how "on that land shall darkness prevail and light expire."

None of the heroes wanted to believe that such a future was unchangeable but considering the odds stacked against them, they were starting to have their doubts. Without Sora and the others there to even the odds, their chances of success continued to drop with every hour the battle went on. And without Coalition troops nearby to provide air support, the heroes were trapped and on their own. But they fought anyway, knowing that they were the worlds' last line of defense. That they could not,  _would not_  fail.

* * *

#### The World That Never Was – The Round Room/Where Nothing Gathers

#### July 31, 2015

"You have to fight him Sora!" Riku shouted as he dodged a blow from the monster in control of his best friend's body. "You're stronger than him! You can do this!"

"No!" Vanitas retorted mockingly. "He can't!" In the blink of an eye he warped overhead, and Riku barely dodged out of the way before Vanitas swung his Keyblade downward. Goofy threw his shield at Vanitas, but he knocked it out of the way. However this lowered his guard long enough for Donald to successfully launch a Blizzaga spell at Vanitas' face. None of them wanted to hurt Sora, but until their friend could force Xehanort's apprentice out of his body, they had no choice to defend themselves against the sadistic puppeteer manipulating Sora's body like a marionette.

Riku and Vanitas launched simultaneous blasts of Dark Firaga, meeting each other in the middle and creating a large explosion that knocked the two back.  _Guys, you have to run!_ Sora mentally urged his friends.  _You can't save me. You have to get out of here and help the others before it's too late!_ Unfortunately, since he lacked telepathic powers, his friends could not hear him, and the battle continued. Donald and Goofy repeated their earlier combo in reverse this time, distracting Vanitas long enough for Riku to land a few combos before Sora's body warped out of the way.

After throwing Goofy's shield back up to him, Kairi watched from the sidelines. While the monster controlling the love of her life was distracted fighting with the others, she was busy freeing the other six Princesses of Heart from their chains. Once they were all safely down, she led her fellow Princesses through the emergency exit hidden in the side of the raised central platform and out of the Round Room. Since none of the others had a Keyblade, she guided them downstairs and out of the castle.

Once outside in the Brink of Despair, she gave Belle the Gummi Autopilot Remote she'd pick-pocketed from Donald at the beginning of the fight against Vanitas and instructed them on how to use it to warp themselves back up to the Gummi Ship. Once the six girls had been transported up to safety, she carefully headed back up the ice bridge and back into the castle. As she reentered Nothing's Call, the castle's lowest level, the citadel shook from the force of another Coalition air strike.

Knowing she needed to hurry, she raced back into Where Nothing Gathers to find that the fight to save Sora continued to rage. Riku and Vanitas had similar fighting styles, and the two were evenly matched. It was almost a stalemate, but Donald and Goofy's frequent interruptions still allowed the Keyblade Master to land a few extra combos and still have time to dodge his foe's attacks. With a little Parkour, Kairi jumped off one of the thrones and managed to grab the edge of the dais. After catching her breath, she swung herself up onto the central platform with a roll. Now that the other princesses were safe, there was no way she was going to sit out on trying to save Sora from Vanitas.

"Sora!" she called out as she ran over. His body turned in her direction and for a brief moment his eyes flicked back to his calm blue before switching back to the burning, hateful gold of Vanitas.

"Sorry, girly," Vanitas replied mockingly with a nod to Kairi's pink skirt. "But your boyfriend can't hear you. And even if he could, his body is mine now, and he couldn't do anything about it if he wanted to." Kairi glared angrily at the monster who had taken Sora. Hope swelled up in her as she noticed the eyes flickering more and more.

"Yes he can!" she snapped, furious. "He's still in there, and I know he can hear me! And he can do something about it because he is stronger than you are! I love him and I know that he has not stopped and never will stop fighting you, Vanitas!"

"Love huh?" Vanitas remarked arrogantly. "HOW PATHETIC!" the dark entity roared as he let loose a blast of Dark energy that knocked Kairi into one of the thrones.

"KAIRI!" As she kneeled on the ground clutching her stomach, the Princess of Heart couldn't help but smile triumphantly when she heard Sora's own voice coming from his mouth. Anyone hearing the story after the fact would have found it strange how anyone could tell the difference between the two when they looked and sounded the same, but the difference was obvious to the quartet in the room, since they knew Sora so well. Vanitas' voice always had a touch of arrogance, always sounding contemptuous of everyone around him. Sora's voice on the other hand, when he wasn't provoked into anger, was always cheerful and friendly.

And it was his voice that they heard now. Riku, Donald, and Goofy helped Kairi back up onto the central platform after using Curaga to heal any injuries she'd sustained in that blast. The four of them stood together and watched as Sora struggled to regain control of his own body. But this time, Kairi knew in her heart that Vanitas had already lost. How to get rid of Vanitas entirely without the Key to Return Hearts was another matter, but the answer would soon present itself. Now that Sora had regained enough control to fight back, it was only a matter of time before he broke free of Vanitas' puppet strings completely.


	70. Sunset Horizons

#### The World That Never Was – The Round Room/Where Nothing Gathers

#### July 31, 2015

"Get… Out… of my… Body!" Sora shouted as he fought back against Xehanort's apprentice with every fiber of his being.  _No!_ Vanitas protested in head, but it was already too late.  _No! It can't end like this! I have to complete the X –Blade! It's the only way for me to be free!_

 _Why do you need to destroy the universe in order to be free?_ Sora asked curiously. He was angry with this Vanitas for trying to control him and for making him hurt Kairi, but now that Vanitas was being forced out, the dark being sounded terrified and desperate.

 _What do you care?_ Vanitas snapped back. Despite his usual vitrol he sounded like he was about to cry.  _I'm just another monster of the dark to be destroyed, no different than the Heartless. So just get it over with alright? FINISH ME OFF!_

 _No,_ Sora replied.  _You may have caused a lot of pain to me and the people I care about, but nobody's being finished off until I know why. There has to be a reason for everything you did. So tell me. Why did you do it?_

 _You're so much like Ven,_ Vanitas replied, now definitely on the verge of tears.  _Always seeing the best in people. You two could talk to a rock and somehow manage to befriend it. You both disgust me. You two had it all. Friends and family who cared about you. The freedom to be whatever you want to be. I NEVER HAD ANY OF THAT! EVERY TIME I TRIED TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE, I'D ACCIDENTALLY MAKE AN UNVERSED! AND WHEN I DROVE IT OFF, EVERYONE WHO SAW ME WOULD SPREAD THE WORD, AND I'D BE TREATED LIKE THE PLAGUE WHEREVER I WENT! I GREW UP WITH XEHANORT AS THE CLOSEST THING I EVER HAD TO A FATHER! A FATHER WHO RAISED ME TO BE NOTHING MORE THAN A WEAPON, A PAWN ON HIS COSMIC CHESS BOARD!_

Vanitas actually sounded like he was crying now.  _You both got to have everything you ever wanted, and I grew up with nothing. Not even an identity. Before you saved Ven's heart seventeen years ago, I didn't even have a face. Xehanort probably only gave me a name as an afterthought just so he wouldn't have to keep calling me 'boy' all the time. Otherwise he probably wouldn't even have bothered naming me. I would have spent my entire life as nothing but his nameless slave._ Sora listened in silence as Ventus' dark half vented years' worth of pent up angst and frustration.

 _And the only reason I never ran away from him despite everything he put me through was that I had nowhere else to go,_ Vanitas continued. _I had a heart of pure darkness. Nobody would treat me as anything other than a demon to be hunted down and destroyed. So I went along with the old man's schemes, hoping that by fusing with Ven and creating the X – Blade, all of my pain and suffering could finally end. I played the part. I was the good soldier, the stereotypical sadistic villain. All for the sake of the one way I could possibly escape the hell that is my existence. So now that you've heard my story, go ahead and kill me already. Nobody will care when I'm gone._

 _That's not true,_ Sora interrupted.  _I will._ He managed to smile as he felt Vanitas' surprise at his statement.

 _But… why?_ Vanitas asked, shocked and confused at the actions of the Keyblade Master he was supposed to possess.  _After everything I did, to Ven… to you… to your girlfriend… You're willing to forgive me just like that?_

 _You've seen the inside of my heart haven't you?_ Sora replied.  _I forgave Riku, didn't I? And he did almost the exact same kind of stuff you did. If Riku can be given a second chance, then so can you. I'm still mad about Kairi, but you still deserve a chance to redeem yourself._ Vanitas was clearly shocked that anyone would ever give him, darkness incarnate, the time of day, much less think he can be redeemed. He started crying nonexistent tears again, but this time, they were tears of happiness.  _Thank you,_ he whispered mentally.

Sora released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he returned his attention back to the outside world. He let Kairi know that he was alright before telling her, Riku, Donald, and Goofy to stand back. In a flash of light, the Kingdom Key appeared in his hands. Before anyone else in the room could say anything, he plunged it into his chest. And then, with a great deal of metaphysical exertion and a little accidental use of the powers of darkness, Sora dragged Vanitas out of his body.

As had been the case seventeen years ago, as soon as Vanitas was free of Sora's chest, a body of his own formed around his dark heart. The strain of the exercise rendered both boys unconscious. As fatigue finally took hold of him, Sora realized just how far gone he was. Just as Riku had opened his Heart to the Darkness years ago because of his desire to leave the islands, Sora had done the exact same thing out of love for Kairi. Ignoring the newly resurrected and unconscious Vanitas, the others called out to Sora as they raced over to him. The last thing he heard was Kairi frantically shouting his name as darkness encroached on both his vision and his heart.

* * *

#### The Keyblade Graveyard – Seat of War

#### July 31, 2015

Back in the Keyblade Graveyard, the battle had reached an impasse. All the combatants were too evenly matched to do much damage. For every move the heroes made, the villains countered and retaliated. The heroes did the same for the villains. Every spell and attack was blocked and reflected back. No headway could be made, because everyone was too evenly matched. Sensing the frustration of his vessels as he looked down from his perch at the summit of the pillars he'd erected during his battle with Eraqus' pupils all those years ago, Xehanort was furious with the lack of progress being made.

"We are getting nowhere fast!" the old man fumed as he finished his chanting and examined the battlefield. The portal to the recreation of Daybreak Town glowed softly behind him. When the time came, Organization XIII would summon Kingdom Hearts and through it, use the X – Blade to unlock the Graveyard's Keyhole. When that was done, the real Keyblade War would begin. Since the current number of living Keyblade Wielders in the universe was too low to sustain the ancient conflict, the spirts of the dead from the last war would rise from their graves to fill in the ranks. And as the universe crumbled around them, the Seekers of Darkness would watch and observe from the safety of their illusory bunker.

"Calm down," Braig commented. "I'll take care of it. All we have to do is keep them busy until Vanitas arrives and we'll be able to put the entire team together and get that War you've been wanting." Braig smiled a deceptively cheerful grin as Xehanort stepped into the portal and instructed his lieutenant to inform him when Vanitas arrived. Once the old man was gone, he ordered the remaining members of the Organization to head out to the major skirmish points and stir the pot. "This party's starting to take a turn towards dullsville," he commented before the other vessels and incarnations of Xehanort warped off through Corridors of Darkness.  _Showtime,_ he thought to himself once he was alone with the portal.

Across the Crossroads in the Fissure, Roxas and Xion were faring pretty well against their former employer. Xemnas was throwing everything he had at them but they kept going through with the same pattern they'd been following since the battle began. Dodge. Deflect. Attack. Repeat. Xion rolled out of the way from a flying Ethereal Blade and barely had time to cast Reflect and block the playing card that came shooting through the air towards her. Had she been any slower, it would have cut her in half. Realizing that Luxord's human self had entered the playing field, she gave a nod to Roxas before racing forwards to engage their new opponent.

Meanwhile, up in the Seat of War, Mickey had made headway in his battle with Hans. Thanks to his smaller size and greater agility, the mouse had him on the ropes. After over an hour of constant combat, even a slightly more powerful than normal human like Hans was beginning to tire. After Mickey's last strike, the prince was panting heavily and leaning against the walls of the hollow peak at the mountain's summit. But before Mickey make another move, a wave of blue fire knocked him off his feet and face first into the rock wall. He shakily climbed to his feet to see Xehanort's time travelling teenage incarnation walking towards him, Keyblade in hand. Behind him, Hans was ready for battle in the same stance as before, his injuries healed as if the battle had never happened. Realizing that he was outnumbered, the mouse king immediately went on the defensive.

Further off, in the Badlands, Terra and Ven had finally managed to start tag-teaming their opponents. Ven deftly dodged the projectiles the Xehanort-possessed past Terra (which, being such a mouthful, was why Terra had appropriated Braig's nickname of Terranort) hurled at him before rolling behind a stone pillar. A few feet away, Terra had Leopardos on the ropes. Just as Ven rolled out from his hiding spot and cast Tornado against Terranort, their luck took a turn for the worse. Xehanort's Heartless and the Riku replica dropped in from the cliffs above, casting Dark Firaga spells in every direction as they leapt into the fray.

 _We're done for,_ Terra thought grimly as he deflected blows from both versions of Xehanort's Guardian Heartless.  _Without Riku and the others, we're severely outnumbered. If we don't get reinforcements soon, this will be the end… for all of us._ As he leaped back long enough to cast a few spells at Riku's clone, Terra silently prayed that reinforcements would get there in time. He had no idea how far it was between the Keyblade Graveyard and the World That Never Was, but they were fighting a losing battle and time was running out.  _Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, I don't mean to sound insensitve, but please hurry it up. We can't win without you guys._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While deciding what to do with Vanitas, I was influenced by his sympathetic backstory in the not-entirely-canon novel adaptation of Birth by Sleep. It's debatable how much of the manga/novel adaptations of Kingdom Hearts games are canon, but for the purposes of this series, his sympathetic portrayal is canon, but he know that nobody aligned with the light would believe him because he's a heart of pure darkness, so his sadistic behavior in the game was an act. 
> 
> I had originally been planning to have Vanitas die when Sora forced him out of his body, but when I refreshed on his sympathetic backstory I realized that having Sora get Vanitas out of his body through his seemingly infinite capacity for empathy would have a much stronger impact than just killing Vanitas in a Battle In The Center of the Mind. So I had tweaked my plans for the ending slightly to include Vanitas
> 
> Also, when I made my decision about Vanitas, I suddenly realized that his backstory (if you consider his Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds portrayal from the novels as canon like this fic) has a lot of parallels with that of Regina from Once Upon A Time. And come to think of it, his whole thing about wanting to merge with Ven and create the X – Blade sounds uncannily reminiscent of Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender and his obsession with capturing the Avatar to restore his honor.


	71. Fate of the Unknown

#### The World That Never Was – The Round Room/Where Nothing Gathers

#### July 31, 2015

After what turned out to be around twenty minutes, Sora regained consciousness to find Kairi worriedly standing over him. After a quick kiss and a good-natured warning not to scare her like that again, Sora explained what had happened with Vanitas. Riku put a hand on his shoulder as a gesture of support when he revealed that he'd been so desperate to save Kairi that he'd opened himself up to the darkness. But the strangest thing was that aside from the new dark powers, he didn't feel any different.

"I… don't think I can stay here anymore," he said sadly as his friends helped him up to his feet. "I don't know how to control these new powers. I don't want to risk hurting anyone. It'll be better off for everyone if I just…"

"Don't you even dare finish that sentence, Sora," Kairi interrupted as she gave him the tightest hug she could give him. "Dark powers or not, you're still the same guy I fell in love with. Riku and Terra can help you with controlling your powers, but you'll never be alone. I will always be right there by your side the entire time. We can get through this. Together." She gave Sora a kiss, and that managed to brighten his mood. With Sora's potential darkness-related angst nipped in the bud, the group conversation eventually turned towards getting to the Keyblade Graveyard to stop Xehanort from forging the X – Blade.

As they talked, they didn't notice a small golden light drifting down from above. They finally realized it was there once it landed softly in the palm of Sora's hand. The light expanded outward until it formed a familiar shape. Within moments, Sora held the Dark Kingdom Key in his left hand. At first, Sora thought that opening himself up to the darkness had given him Mickey's old Keyblade, rationalizing that it was a Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness for someone like him with dark powers. But to the group's surprise, he could still summon the Kingdom Key from the Realm of Light with his right hand.

Suddenly, it hit them. Xehanort said that the seven light shards of the X – Blade became the protectors of the Princesses of Heart. That was what he had been using the Kingdom Key for in the end on his first journey.  _If we forge the X - Blade ourselves, it'll give us the edge we need to stop Xehanort,_ he realized. Once Vanitas regained consciousness, they explained the theory to him. He was a little hesitant to converse with everyone (being rejected by everyone you tried to befriend because of what he was left some emotional scars that didn't heal instantaneously just because he'd been given a second chance, after all), but he agreed that their theory was plausible.

"There's only one way to find out, though," he commented. "It doesn't sound like either Kingdom Key has ever been this close together before." Sora agreed. With what might be the shards of the X – Blade so close together for the first time in Kingdom Hearts knew how long, he could hear voices emanating from the blade. Recognizing that the voices probably came from the memories of the people who had create the X – Blade, Sora knew what he had to do. In one swift motion, he crossed the two Kingdom Keys over his head so that they formed a narrow X. Everyone shielded their eyes as a flash of blinding light covered the room.

* * *

#### Daybreak Town – Seacoast Park

#### July 31, 2015

 _I've been waiting eight thousand years for this moment,_ Braig thought to himself as he stepped through the portal to the illusory Daybreak Town and found himself in Seacoast Park. The same place his troops had landed on the beaches for their siege in the final days of the war. Seeing his old home again, even if it was just an illusion, dredged up a lot of memories, both pleasant and unpleasant. Pushing those memories down, he walked across the bridge in search of Xehanort. He eventually found the old man standing in the park at the base of the clock tower. The place where the Keyblade War had ended with the destruction of the X – Blade. At the sound of Braig's approach, Xehanort turned around.

"They're here already?" he asked in surprise when he saw his lieutenant. "That was quicker than I expected." Braig smiled triumphantly.

"No," he said. "They're not. I just wanted to pop in here and have a chat with you, boss."

"Regarding what?" Xehanort inquired, half curious, half frustrated with his lieutenant's decision making.

"You're going to lose," Braig answered. "Your plan to recreate the X – Blade is doomed to failure. The only way to recreate the X – Blade is to put the original shards back together." He started laughing. "It's so ironic that you've gone to so much effort to recreate the X – Blade with the whole seven lights and thirteen Seekers of Darkness plan, when Sora and Mickey have been carrying around the shards of the original for three years now. All you hard work was for nothing. Besides, the universe isn't ready for another Keyblade War. Not for another two-thousand years."

"And how would you possibly know all this?" Xehanort demanded, furious with Braig's mockery. "How could you figure out that the Kingdom Keys hold the original fragments and refrain from sharing this information?"

"Because I am Unchained, you old coot," he answered. When old baldy's eyes widened in shock, he continued. "I fought in the Keyblade War from the sinking of Atlantis to the Siege of Daybreak Town. In all my lifetimes, I have seen civilizations rise and fall. I trained at the foot of the Foreteller Leopardos himself. I have seen generations of Keyblade Master, grow up, train, grow old, and die, time and time again. I have seen the world burn itself to death in the fires of the Keyblade War over and over again, only to be reborn from the ashes each and every time. For eight thousand years I have stood sentinel over the cosmos, protecting it from evil."

"Then what do you really want?" Xehanort asked angrily. "Since you obviously don't need a Keyblade at all."

"Your head on a pike, old man," the sniper replied. "Your plans came too early, traitor. As an Unchained, it's my responsibility to do everything I can to stop you so that the universe can reach the end of its life cycle naturally. The only reason I've told you any of this is as a consolation, since you won't remember any of this in your next life. I wanted you to know why you have to die. Because you will die. One way or another. Whether I kill you, or Sora does, you are never leaving the Keyblade Graveyard alive.

With all his explanations done, Braig summoned his Keyblade to his hand, and charged. Xehanort had was caught off guard by Braig's sudden betrayal and subsequent revelations, and barely had time to dodge the first swing of the immortal's Keyblade. He managed to get his own Keyblade out in time to block the second strike, but Braig had already pushed him on the defensive. Were Braig only a novice Keyblade wielder, Xehanort would have been able to easily defeat the upstart. But not this time.

This time, he was fighting against an opponent who had been alive since the last Keyblade War. Who knew every move Xehanort would make because he invented many of the techniques himself. The old man parried another blow from the Unchained, only for the one-eyed immortal to expertly dodge his counterattacks. In desperation and anger, Xehanort started resorting to his more powerful, darker attacks. With the aid of the powers of Darkness, Xehanort managed to turn the tides until he and his opponent were more or less evenly matched.

* * *

#### The Keyblade Graveyard – Badlands

#### July 31, 2015

Meanwhile, back in the Keyblade Graveyard, the tide of battle was quickly turning against the heroes of light. With the chaos of fighting two opponents at once, Mickey, Terra, and Ven were beginning to lose ground to their foes. Only Aqua, Lea, Roxas, and Xion were having any luck with their opponents, and even then it wasn't by much. The tag team approached the two duos were employing only really worked when each person was fighting only one enemy, rather than two.

Roxas and Xion were holding their own fairly well against Xemnas and Ludor in the Fissure, but that was mainly because there were places where they could be backed into a corner. While Xion deflected Ludor's cards, Roxas winced as Xemnas cast a spell on Roxas that he'd seen the Superior use on Sora before. A spell that would remove his Heart. Furious, Roxas ran towards his former boss as Xemnas teleported up to the top of the cliff above him. But little things like heights never stopped Roxas before.

With a little Parkour, the former Nobody ran right up the cliff face, just as he had done against Riku at Memory Skyscraper back in the World The Never was years ago. As Xemnas came falling down the fissure walls towards him, Roxas swung out with both Oathkeeper and Oblivion, slamming Xemnas into the cliff wall and temporarily stunning him, breaking his insidious spell. Once both returned to the ground, Roxas managed to land a few hits on Xehanort's Nobody before he regained his senses and pulled up a shield. But before either opponent could make another move, a bright light appeared in the sky. All four combatants in the area shielded their eyes as they looked up in search of the light's source.

Further up in the seat of War, Mickey was almost on his last legs. Despite his best efforts, Young Xehanort kept using his powers over time to reverse every injury the mouse inflicted on both Prince Hans and himself. If help didn't arrive soon, Yen Sid wouldn't be the only Keyblade Master to perish this week. After barely managing to cast a Curaga spell on himself, Young Xehanort's attacks began again in earnest. Mickey had almost no time to react as the teenage time traveler came at the mouse with everything he had. But the lasted string of blows was abruptly cut short when a blinding flash of light appeared high up in the air. The three combatants shielded their eyes as they looked out over the Graveyard in search of the light's source.

Off in the Badlands, Terra and Ven were hanging on by a very thin thread. After a bevy of attack from the two Guardian Heartless, Terra had created a dome of earth around himself and Ven, reinforced by a Reflega spell maintained by the both of them. As their four foes hammered away at the shield from the outside, Terra knew that they couldn't keep this up forever. Ven was already starting to look exhausted from the strain. If this kept up any longer, he was going to pass out.

Deciding to prioritize his little brother's well-being over his own safety, Terra collapsed the dome and leaned Ven against the stone piller that had comprised part of the dome's walls, putting himself between his sibling and their opponents. But before either side could make a move, blinding flash appeared in the sky off in the distance. It was so bright that all six combatants had to shield their eyes from the glare as they searched for the source of the flash.

Aqua dodged a blow from Isa before casting a Reflega spell to avoid the Luna Diviner's follow-up strike. A few yards away, Lea was trading verbal banter with Xehanort's Foreteller incarnation, pointing out to the Outcast that he wanted to find out what happened after the war he had caused, when the results of his machinations were all around him.

"Is all this death and destruction really worth it?" she heard Lea ask the fallen Foreteller. Unfortunately, she was in no position to add to Lea's comments since she was busy fighting off her own opponent. As she and Isa fought, she realized that since Xehanort had planted a piece of his heart inside all his vessels, she could free them from Xehanort's influence the same way Sora had removed Ven's heart from his own. With a calming breath to activate the more metaphysical powers of her Keyblade, she lunged forward and drove the mystical weapon into her foe's chest.

Removing a fragmented heart turned out to be harder than just separating Ven and Sora's hearts had been. Aqua had to pour a high amount of energy into her blade before she finally made any progress. And as it turned out, separating a fragment of Xehanort's heart from one of his vessels was a lot like a dentist pulling teeth. Only with a lot more strain, and without the blood. When she finally removed the fragment of Xehanort's heart, since it was only a fragment and not a whole heart, it disintegrated into the air. But not before firing a bolt of darkness at its host's heart. Aqua reflexively shielded her face and jumped back as blood spattered everywhere.

"Isa!" Lea shouted as he ran over. Behind him, Xehanort's Foreteller incarnation just stood there, contemplating his opponent's words. Ignoring their other opponent, Aqua stood up as Lea kneeled down next to his former friend and examined the wound. The former flurry of dancing flames shed a tear as he realized after a failed Curaga spell that his childhood friend wasn't going to make it. He'd been angry with Isa for changing so much during the Organization, but once he'd found out that it was because he was slowly being taken over by Xehanort, he wanted to try and save his old friend. They'd had too much between them for him not to try.

"Lea," the former Luna Diviner groaned as he clutched the gaping wound in his chest. Xehanort's golden eyes were gone, replaced by Isa's natural green. "I'm not going to make it. But… I want you to know… I'm sorry… for how I acted… towards Roxas… and Xion… You were right… Lea… I did change." He groaned as Lea gave him a panacea in the hopes of easing the pain. The blast of darkness fired into his chest, the redhead realized, was a failsafe Xehanort put in place to make sure that if his heart was taken out of one of his vessels, one of his former puppets couldn't be used against him. Lea resolved right then and there to kill Xemnas or the old man… some incarnation of Xehanort himself for what the madman had done as he cradled his dying friend in his arms.

"Lea…" Isa groaned once more as he started coughing up blood. "Since this is the end for me… My old jacket… I left it… inside Hollow Bastion… I want you… to have it…"

"I'm so sorry..." Lea sobbed as he gave his friend one last hug. "I'm sorry I gave up on you."

"Don't be…" Isa groaned. "I didn't... deserve it… I was... a jerk... At least now… I can die… as myself… away... from Xehanort's control... Now... I'm finally… Free…" Lea's tears intensified as the light faded from his childhood friend's eyes. After a few minutes of mourning, he looked up angrily at the time-displaced Foreteller.  _To hell with temporal paradoxes,_ Lea thought to himself as he stood up with blood on his hands and shirt and fire in his eyes.  _Every incarnation of Xehanort that has ever lived will PAY!_ But before he could charge over and tear apart the space-time continuum, the group was distracted by a blinding flash in the air. Everyone shielded their eyes as they looked up at the sky in search of the source.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Isa's dead. When I was planning out the final battle, I ultimately realized that I didn't want any of the non-time travelled members of the Organization to walk away from this battle, so I decided that if I was going to kill off Isa and a few others, then they needed to have a Dying as Yourself Moment. I think you can all guess what the light in the sky is, so I'm not going to spoil it. But yeah, the next few chapters, there's finally going to start being some casualties on the Organization's side.
> 
> My inspiration for what happened with Sora comes from a theory I found on the TVTropes page for Kingdom Hearts 3. The original poster speculated that with Kairi being firmly in the light in terms of her powers and Riku being twilight (despite saying he walks the Road to "Dawn", he talks with Namine with Chain of Memories about using both Light AND Darkness), it would make sense for Sora to give in to the darkness and complete the set. The idea was basically that Xehanort's attempts to corrupt Sora to make him a suitable vessel would backfire spectacularly and he'd become the living embodiment of Xehanort's Dark Is Not Evil philosophy. And I really like that idea so I took the theory and ran with it.


	72. L'Eminenza Oscura

#### The Keyblade Graveyard – Keyblade Crossroads

#### July 31, 2015

 _Let's do this,_ Sora thought to himself as he dove through the sky towards the ground, X – Blade in hand. As they'd predicted, combining the two Kingdom Keys together had re-forged the ancient blade. What they hadn't expected was for the blade to open the Door to Light that had transported him to the Keyblade Graveyard several hundred feet in the air. Once he was close enough to the ground, he used a Darkness-enhanced Aeroga spell to cushion his fall so that he landed on his feet, ready for battle.

A few feet away from where he landed, a Dark Corridor opened up, disgorging Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas. They looked around and surveyed the battlefield, taking note of several explosions off in the distance that were clearly indicative of battles going on. Sora looked to the left and spotted the glowing portal at the top of the plateaus created during the previous battle in the Graveyard over a decade ago. Realizing that the portal was where Master Xehanort would most likely be, and being able to sense who was where on the battlefield thanks to a combination of his darkness-enhanced senses and the power of the X-Blade, Sora immediately started planning a battle strategy.

"So here's the plan," he explained to the group. "Roxas and Xion are fighting Xemnas and Luxord in the fissure over there. Aqua and Lea are fighting Xehanort's past life in the trench nearby. Mickey's going up against Hans and Young Xehanort at the top of that mountain. Terra and Ven are fighting Leopardos, Terranort, Xehanort's Heartless and Riku's clone up near the badlands. Donald and Goofy, you guys help Roxas and Xion. Kairi, I need you to go help Mickey so he's not facing those two alone. Riku and Vanitas, head over to that way," he pointed in the direction of the Badlands. "And lend Terra and Ven a hand. It's too far to walk, so Vanitas will have to use the Dark Corridors to drop everyone off. I'm going to deal with Xehanort."

"Sora, you can't fight him alone," Kairi protested. "It's suicide. There has to be another way."

"I won't be fighting him alone," Sora reassured her. "I just need to keep him busy long enough for you guys to take down the rest of the Organization. Once they're taken care of, it'll be all of us against him." Kairi wasn't happy about the fact that there was a brief window in the battle plan during which the love of her life could possibly die, but she knew that for this battle, they didn't have a choice.

"Come back to me, okay?" she said as she handed him her thalasa shell lucky charm once again.

"You know I will," he replied with a smile before leaning over and giving her one last pre-battle kiss. "I promise." And with that, he took off at a run towards the portal in the distance. It was time to end this once and for all. Vanitas quickly opened up another Dark Corridor that the quintet quickly stepped through to head to their respective battles. Donald and Goofy were dropped off first, then Kairi. Finally, Riku and Vanitas stepped out of the Corridor onto a cliff overlooking the Badlands. Down below, Ventus was leaning against a wall, recovering from either an injury or the strain of a particular spell, while Terra was struggling to hold off four opponent at once to protect his friend.

Once Vanitas put his helmet on, the two newcomers leapt off the cliff and down into the fray. Vanitas knocked the Riku Relpica back with a pulse of darkness as he landed, while Riku managed to slash across the Guardian Heartless' back, causing it to turn towards him only to receive a Dark Firaga spell to the face. Although Terra and Ven were surprised by Vanitas' appearance and his fighting against Xehanort, the enemy of their enemy was their friend, so they at least tolerated his presence for now as the increased numbers allowed the two Keyblade wielders to push back against Leopardos and Terranort while Riku and Vanitas took care of the other two combatants.

Over in the Seat of War, Mickey was on his last legs. Young Xehanort's ability to manipulate time on the battlefield put the mouse at a serious disadvantage. Cure spells could only do so much when the spell caster was worn out and exhausted from the hours-long battle. Just as Hans was about to strike the final blow, Young Xehanort was launched across the small area and slammed into the wall. This distracted Hans long enough for Mickey, who had reached the same conclusion as Aqua, to plunge his Star Seeker Keyblade into the prince's chest. Like with Isa, this produced the same results.

Mickey stood there mournfully, regretting the fact that he had to kill a living being in order to save the worlds, even if Hans had been evil. Young Xehanort regained his footing and was about to kill the king when Kairi shot another ray of light from her hands, stunning the time traveler long enough to cast Curaga on the mouse. Reminding himself that there was still a battle to win, Mickey shook himself out of his stupor and swung his Keyblade at the teenage Xehanort while Kairi charged into battle behind him.

Down in the Fissure, Roxas and Xion had reached a similar conclusion regarding Luxord's enslavement to Xehanort, but his and Xemnas' tactics meant that they couldn't get an opening in which to save their former coworker. Fortunately, Donald and Goofy came charging in from the direction of the Twister Trench, distracting the two Organization members long enough for Roxas to make his move. The fifteen-year old former Nobody poured all of his energy into his Oblivion Keyblade as he sprinted towards the Gambler of Fate. Ludor snapped back to the battle, but he couldn't raise his cards into a shield fast enough before Roxas' Keyblade pierced his chest.

Like Isa and Hans before him, removing the fragment of Xehanort's heart triggered the old man's fail-safe, mortally wounding the former Gambler. While Donald and Goofy kept Xemnas occupied, Xion raced over as Roxas looked in horror as Ludor clutched the bleeding hole in his chest.

"I'm so sorry," Roxas gasped as he inched towards his former colleague and tried to cast Curaga. Like with Isa, the attempt failed. "I had no idea…"

"Don't be…" Ludor groaned as blood seeped from the wound. "There was no way… I was going… to make it out of this battle alive… At least… this way… I die free… Thank you… Roxas…" And with that, the Gambler of fate collapsed on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Roxas and Xion stood there for a few more moments, silently mourning their fallen comrade. Eventually, the force of an explosion caused by Donald deflecting one of Xemnas' Ethereal blades into the cliff walls forced numbers 13 and 14 to return their attention to the battle at hand.

* * *

#### Daybreak Town – Clock Tower Plaza

#### July 31, 2015

Braig and Xehanort continued to cross blades back and forth around the plaza when they both felt it. For a moment, they simply stood still in surprise, shocked by the sensation. The ripple in the fabric of reality sent a very clear message, but the two combatants had two widely different interpretations of what it meant. For Xehanort, the ripple in the universe told him that his goals were nearly realized, that the Key to recreating the Keyblade War was now finally within his grasp. For Braig however, the ripple meant something completely different. It meant that his worst fears had been realized. That despite his attempts to stall Xehanort, the universal cycle of death and renewal was going to be cut short, inflicting untold consequences on the next go around.

"The X – Blade has been forged," Master Xehanort said with a smug, satisfied smile, voicing what both men were thinking about the source of the ripple. "And with it, my goals are finally within my grasp." The old man swung his Keyblade, only for it to be blocked by the Unchained warrior's weapon.

"As if I'd ever let that happen, Xehanort," Braig spat. "As long as there's breath in my body, you will never live to set eyes on the X – Blade. The world isn't ready yet, and I will destroy the blade again myself if I have to in order to make sure the cycle goes on to its natural conclusion." He kicked out, sending the older man tumbling across the plaza floor. Xehanort quickly recovered before launching himself at the Freeshooter. With the X – Blade now on the board, the old man was more determined than ever to achieve his goals.

After that ripple, both sides fought even more fiercely than ever. Thanks to his eight millennia of experience, Braig was at least able to ensure that the old Keyblade Master was too busty fighting for his life to just warp around the Unchained and make a break for the portal. Speaking of the portal, since all the other members of the Organization were off battling the heroes of light, nobody was around to notice, let alone stop, the teenage boy leaping up the plateaued mountain towards the portal, with the legendary weapon both men inside the illusion coveted held in his hands.


	73. L'Oscurita Dell'Ignoto

#### The Keyblade Graveyard – Fissure

#### July 31, 2015

With the deaths of Isa, Ludor, and Hans, the balance of power began to swing back towards the heroes. Donald, Goofy, Roxas, and Xion were turning the tides against Xemnas. The Superior of the Organization was finally beginning to tire as his former subordinates chipped away at his defenses. Donald and Goofy's ranged attacks were forcing the Nobody up against the cliff walls, and he was too focused on maintaining his shield walls as Roxas and Xion pounded against it to even consider warping out in a Dark Corridor.

Far off in the Badlands, Riku, Terra, and Vanitas were quickly pushing back against Ansem, Terranort, and the Replica. Thanks to their similar fighting styles, Vanitas and Riku's doppelganger quickly reached an impasse in the battle, neither combatant able to harm the other. Terra was quickly beginning to gain the upper hand over his Xehanort-possessed self, having done so once before in the Keyblade Graveyard all those years ago. And after all the times he'd fought against Xehanort's Heartless, Riku was dominating his duel with Ansem.

A few feet away, however, Ven's fight against Leopardos had shifted from a battle of Keyblades to a battle of wits.

"Why are you helping Xehanort!?" the teenager demanded as he faced his past life. "What has he ever done for you!?"

"I'm helping him because the only way for balance to exist between light and darkness is for the Darkness to throw off the oppressive shackles of light's tyranny and have its day," the older man replied. "The only way for that to work is for Xehanort to use the X – Blade to destroy the source of all light."

"That's suicide!" Ven protested. "Without Kingdom Hearts the world will collapse in on itself. Is that what you really want!?"

"No," Leopardos answered angrily. "Which is why once the X – Blade has been restored I'm going to take it to Daybreak Town and use it to infect Kingdom Hearts with darkness."

"Didn't Xehanort tell you?" Ven asked incredulously as he gestured at the barren landscape around them. "The X – Blade was destroyed because of the war that  _you_ started. And I've hear from Aqua how devastating just destroying a pale imitation was. From what Terra told me about his own intel, the destruction of the true X – Blade fried everything within a fifty mile radius. Don't you get it? This  _IS_ Daybreak Town! Look around you. Thousands of Keyblade wielders died here that day  _because of you!_ "

"YOU'RE LYING!" His Foreteller self roared.

"Terra heard it straight from Ephemer's lips," Ven replied. When Leopardos looked confused he returned. "Or did you not figure out that he'd Unchained himself? Honestly, from what I've heard, I'm surprised you didn't recognize the eyepatch." Leopardos' eyes widened as the pieces fell into place in his mind. Looking around at the barren deserts of the Keyblade Graveyard, the Foreteller dropped to his knees as the weight of all that his actions had caused hit him like a freight train.

 **"** **What have I done…?"** he whispered in Atlantean as tears flowed down his face.  **"Ava… Ira… Invi… Aced… I'm so sorry… I don't know if I deserve forgiveness for what I've done… But it's too late anyway…"** Ven's face hardened as he addressed his older self. Like Kairi in Atlantis, he was able to understand the Atlantean language thanks to his proximity to his past life, and he knew that there was still time.

"No," Ven said. "It's not too late. There's still time for you to fix your mistakes." A short talk about what to do later, and the two Keyblade Wielders left the Badlands through a Dark Corridor, although not without Leopardos (whose real name turned out to be Gula) casting aside the Organization's black coat in favor of his old Foreteller's robes. A few minutes later, the two emerged from the dark portal into the Twister Trench, where Aqua and Lea were going up against Xavier, the Outcast.

Lea fought like a demon. After the Coalition fleet arrived from the World That Never Was with air support, Namine and the Twilight Town trio had beamed him aboard the Kingdom so he could put Isa in a body bag. After that, he'd returned to the surface and gone after the renegade Foreteller with a vengeance. Despite his rage, however, Lea was still only a beginner when it came to wielding the Keyblade. The Foretellers, on the other hand, were the Masters of their generation. He and Aqua were just about to swing their blades against their opponent when a crystalized Reflega shield appeared around the time-displaced Foreteller.

Everyone looked over to see Ventus and Leopardos running towards them. Aqua and Lea immediately prepared for battle, but Ven told them to trust him on this and took them aside to explain the situation while Gula did the same with Luxu. Aqua and Lea were skeptical of the idea that one of Xehanort's past lives would change sides so easily, but their concerns were partially allayed when they saw The Outcast react to the explanation of the end of the X – Blade war the same way that Leopardos had, although not without a lengthy argument between the two Foretellers first.

Although they couldn't hear all the words, the three modern Keyblade Wielders managed to get the gist of the conversation and managed to glean a significant amount of information on the two Masters' pasts. Apparently, Xavier had given in to the Darkness out of jealousy. Even as apprentices, the other Foretellers (with the exception of Gula) had ostracized him for his fascination with learning things that went against their ideas. He was always curious about the existence of darkness, and since most of the other Foretellers preferred to deny that it existed, he was shunned as a result. Even his own mentor disapproved, and as a result he was the only Foreteller not to receive a Book of Prophecy or be given command of a Union, in the hopes that he could wean himself off of his curiosity.

When the Heartless appeared in the Realm of Light, his fascination with the darkness grew, until he was freely experimenting with the Heartless. Eventually, his curiosity grew into an obsession, until one day he gave himself fully to the Darkness in the pursuit of knowledge. His descent into darkness complete, he'd single-handedly stormed into his master's retreat and taken his reclusive mentor prisoner. After swaying Gula to his side, they continued their experiments in secret, away from the prying eyes of the Unions.

Eventually, they'd caught an Ursus soldier named Ephemer snooping around one of their labs, and had taken the young man captive. After holding him prisoner for a few weeks, a Leopardos soldier who Ephemera had befriended broke into their facility and rescued the prisoner. After this was when Ava had called her peace conference among the other Foretellers, and their actions that day had marked the beginning of the Keyblade War. Once the argument had been finished, Xavier broke down in tears as he realized just how far he'd gone in the pursuit of knowledge.

Meanwhile, Mickey and Kairi were quickly gaining the upper hand against Young Xehanort up at the Seat of War in both physical and verbal combat. The Princess of Heart spending the entirety of the battle trading verbal jabs with the time traveler, pointing out the hypocrisy of his actions and words while questioning if he really felt all of the destruction he had/would cause/d was worth it just for the sake of having a front row seat for the apocalypse and whatever came after.

"So what happens next?" she demanded as she dodged another swing of their opponent's Keyblade. "What happens when you get what you want and you're king of the mountain? The only living being in an empty universe? WHAT THEN!?" Unlike previous verbal jabs, this time the teenager didn't have a response. He just kept attacking, only Kairi could tell form the look on the young man's face that his heart was no longer in the fight. She was starting to get through to him. As Young Xehanort's attacks became more sluggish and lethargic, they slowed to a point where Mickey and Kairi only had to stand in one place and cast Reflega and they were perfectly safe. After a little more verbal prodding, the time traveler finally gave up.

"It's not worth it," Young Xehanort admitted as he dropped his Keyblade to the ground, slumping against the walls of the mountain. "Answers to my questions aren't worth destroying everything I care about." Mickey and Kairi edged closer, their guard still up in case it turned out to be a trick. "Exploring and learning more about the universe wasn't the only reason I left the Islands, you know," the teen continued sadly. "My mother died when I was five. My father was constantly drunk after that. He was angry at the world for taking his wife from him, and most nights he took his anger out on me." He pulled up the sleeve of his black coat to reveal a whole slew of cuts and bruises. Kairi and Mickey felt a twinge of sympathy for the younger version of Xehanort when they realized how far in the past he'd come from given how fresh the injuries were. "That's why I became so curious about the word outside the islands. Because I wanted to find a place where I could be free from my father."

"I never had any friends, either," he went on. "Everybody saw me as weird and delusional for wanting to leave the islands. To get away from my abusive dad. Parents discouraged their children from going anywhere near me, and everyone I ever tried to talk to would just glare at me until I went away." Realizing what needed to happen next, Kairi walked over and gave the teenage Xehanort a comforting hug.  _Probably the first time anyone's ever given him one since his mom died,_ she realized as Mickey came over and joined her.

"Thank you," Young Xehanort whispered as he dried his eyes. "Nobody's shown that much kindness to me in years. I know that it's too late for me and my future self. By this point in time I'm already beyond redemption, and once I return to my own time, I'll forget everything I've seen and done here. But as long as I am here there's still time for me to at least do  _some_ good before my fated fall into Darkness."

* * *

#### Daybreak Town – Fountain Plaza

#### July 31, 2015

Master Xehanort limped through the streets of Daybreak Town as quickly as he could, with the traitor Braig in hot pursuit. The aged Keyblade Master had managed to knock the Freeshooter back long enough to make a break for the portal. But even so, the Unchained snapped at his heels the entire way. He narrowly dodged a Firaga spell as he raced into the Fountain Plaza before he was forced to turn and parry a swing from the immortal's Keyblade.

The closer the two got to the portal out to the Keyblade Graveyard, the more fiercely they both fought. Xehanort fired a blast of Dark fire at the younger man's one good eye, hoping to blind his foe and kill him for his treachery. Unfortunately, Braig swiftly dodged before retaliating with a Blizzaga spell that knocked the old man into the air. Xehanort fired off a Dark Firaga spell and while Braig blocked, turned and ran through the wooden gate into the simulation of the city marketplace. Braig raced in after him, only to find the old man standing as still as a statue with his face contorted into a grin of rage and surprise. Instead of killing the old man when he had the chance, Braig couldn't help but let his jaw drop at the sight before him.

There, on the opposite side of the marketplace, stood the familiar figure of Sora. At first, Braig thought that Vanitas had taken over, but one look at the boy's blue eyes quickly dismissed that notion. But the real jaw dropper wasn't that Sora had followed them into the simulation. The real shocker was what he was holding. There, clutched tightly in the seventeen year old's hand, was the ancient, mystical weapon that had started this conflict in the first place. The X – Blade.  _Finally,_ Braig thought as he realized what was about to happen.  _I've been waiting for this day for eight thousand, seventeen years._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I originally wrote this fanfic, the canon names of the Foretellers had not been revealed until after I'd already posted the final chapter. But since I was trying to be close to canon even when I diverged from it, I decided to go back and change the names I came up with to the Foretellers' canon names. 
> 
> Regarding Xehanort's backstory, I wanted him to have a sympathetic motivation for wanting to leave the islands, and being so undying curious about everything, but the point of that whole conversation Young Xehanort has with Kairi is that his old, bald future self is beyond redemption. There is no chance for Master Xehanort to have a Heel-Face Turn. He had already crossed the Moral Event Horizon, and can no longer be redeemed. Luxu pulling a Heel-Face Turn is something I came up with as I was planning these final chapters and I started wondering about why his Keyblade was hanging on the walls of the Land of Departure's Library. Ironically, when I wrote this fic all those years ago everyone assumed Luxu was evil but Back Cover actually shows him as a pretty good guy. 
> 
> Anyway, yeah, Xehanort's vessels and incarnations are starting to turn against him. I've seen a few fanfics and theories speculating that Xehanort's time travelling self would turn against him, because he's from a point in time where he hasn't embraced darkness or light yet, and his voice actor has said in interviews that he was instructed to make his voice sound flat and neutral for the exact same reason. But because of the nature of his method of time travel, he'll forget everything when he returns to his own time. (The other Foretellers are going to as well, but because of the whole "the path you'll take is etched into your heart" thing YMX talks about in 3D, there will be some things that have been imprinted on the two of them from their time in the future)


	74. L'Impeto Oscuro

#### The Keyblade Graveyard – Twister Trench

#### July 31, 2015

After a long, grueling battle, Xemnas was on his last legs. In desperation, the Superior of the In Between had begun attempting to box the four heroes in with his shield walls and bombard them with Ethereal blades from all sides. Yet even that was failing to produce any results. Roxas and Xion leaped up and over the shield walls while Donald and Goofy deflected the laser bolts back towards their origin. As the battle went on Xemnas became increasingly frantic in his attempt to destroy the heroes of light, and his desperation was making him sloppy.

He was about to create a dome of Ethereal blades around his opponents when something slammed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground face first. Before he could do anything, someone placed their hand against his head, forcing his head back into the dirt. He was able to move his head enough to see Lea and Aqua running into the Fissure with Leopardos and Xehanort's Foreteller incarnation right behind them. And out of the corner of his eye, he realized that the one pinning him to the ground was his own past self.

Before the Superior could say anything, the two incarnations of Xehanort faded out of existence in the Keyblade Graveyard. What felt like an instant later, they reappeared in the World That Never Was on the Altar of Naught around two years ago. Young Xehanort released Xemnas and faded away once more, returning to the future. As the superior stood up from his position on the hard metal floor, all memory of what he'd experienced in the future erased itself from his mind as he rose to look up at the unfinished heart-shaped moon hanging in the sky above his castle.

Back in the present, Young Xehanort reappeared in the Fissure in time to overhear Kairi explain his change of heart to the other Guardians of Light. Once that conversation ended, he stepped in and took Gula's and Luxu's hands. Once more, he faded away from the Keyblade Graveyard, taking his two passengers with him. Their spirits raced back through the timeline until they reappeared in Daybreak Town 8,010 years ago, on the final day of the Keyblade War. As Young Xehanort retreated back to the future, the two Foretellers gathered their followers encamped in the mountains and fled on foot away from the mass of Heartless hovering over the city.

In the modern day Keyblade Graveyard, the group gathered in the fissure started running towards the large plateaus on the other side of the Keyblade Crossroads. Meanwhile, over in the Badlands, the disappearance of Leopardos was beginning to even the odds. Although Terra was concerned for Ven's safety, he nevertheless fought against his Xehanort-possessed self with everything he had. Meanwhile, Riku had Xehanort's Heartless on the ropes. After fighting the humanoid Heartless for so long, Riku knew "Ansem's" every move before he even made it.

After the last hour of fighting, Vanitas had managed to wear down the Riku Replica's loyalty to the Organization like Ven and Kairi had done before him. Eventually, the dark Keyblade wielder had convinced the clone to change sides by telling him that trying to make himself into a better version of his genetic donor wouldn't bring him the satisfaction or sense of identity he wanted. If he wanted to be seen as unique, Vanitas argued, he needed to make his own decisions and forge his own path, not to do what others like Vexen and Xehanort told him to do.

So at present Terra and Vanitas had teamed up against Terranort while the two Rikus fought back Xehanort's Heartless. The two against one approach had proven to be effective for the heroes, and the two Seekers of Darkness were on the defensive. The ferocity of the two Rikus' attacks forced Ansem to summon his old dual-tipped spear he'd used when he'd faced Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the End of the World instead of calling on the Heartless of the Foretellers' master to fight for him.

Suddenly Xehanort's teenage self appeared out of thin air and raced towards the six combatants. Vanitas broke off from fighting Terranort and prepared to engage the time traveler when Young Xehanort warped past him and tackled Terranort to the ground. An instant later, the two different versions of Xehanort disappeared. Terra and Vanitas immediately stood back to back, wary of being ambushed by the two Seekers of Darkness while their guard was down.

Unbeknownst to them, Young Xehanort had dragged the Xehanort-possessed version of Terra thirteen years back into the past, depositing him in Radiant Garden's central square before returning to modern times. As the time traveler vanished back into the time stream, all memory of his actions in the future faded from the possessed man's mind. A short while later, a blue-haired woman wielding a Keyblade found him standing in the square, and raced over to him.

Back in the Badlands of the modern era, Young Xehanort reappeared alone before lunging towards his future self's Heartless and dragging him three years into the past. A short while later, the teenage time traveler deposited "Ansem" in the End of the World before racing back to the Keyblade Graveyard of the future. Once he was gone, all memory of his future actions faded from Ansem's mind as he floated in the Endless abyss with the Door to Darkness standing tall and ominously behind him, waiting for the Key bearer and his two friends to arrive and face him.

Young Xehanort returned to the future to find all of the heroes assembled in the center of the Crossroads. He walked up to the group in time to overhear King Mickey finish bringing Terra, Vanitas, and the Rikus up to speed on the time traveler's changed loyalties. After joining up with the group, the younger version of the dark Keyblade Master reluctantly explained that as many of the time displaced Seekers as possible needed to be returned to their own time, and that he needed to bring the Riku Replica back to his own time.

After a brief argument over whether or not that would happen, the clone reluctantly agreed to return to where he belonged in the timeline. But not before Young Xehanort safely removed the fragment of his future self's heart from Repliku's body first. Apparently the old man was so confident in the loyalty of his various incarnations that only an incarnation of himself could remove the fragment without triggering the fail-safe. Memories of the future leaked out of the Replica's mind as Young Xehanort returned him to the exact moment the young clone been recruited to the organization and used his powers over time to undo the healing spells used to save the Riku Replica from death.

* * *

#### Daybreak Town – Marketplace

#### July 31, 2015

Master Xehanort quickly recovered from his shock at seeing the X – Blade in Sora's hands and immediately switched gears to something he knew how to do all too well: manipulating people with his silver tongue. Behind him, Braig immediately began analyzing the situation.  _It looks like Emma's belief in someone who could use the powers of darkness for good wasn't so naïve after all,_ he realized as he leaned against the wall to watch the confrontation unfold.

"My, my," the old man said as he took a few steps down the courtyard towards the teen. "Someone certainly got lucky."

"Luck has nothing to do with this," Sora retorted as he quickly assumed a battle stance.

"Oh, but how can it not?" Xehanort asked as he placed his hands behind his back. "As Braig told you back in the Realm of Sleep, without your ties to other, better Keyblade wielders, you have no real strength or power of your own."

"ENOUGH OF YOUR MIND GAMES, XEHANORT!" Sora shouted, causing the ancient Keyblade Master to take an involuntary step back in surprise. Braig couldn't help but be impressed with the kid's achievement. "I may not have been chosen to wield the Keyblade like you did," the young man went on. "But at least I proved my worth! You used to be a Foreteller! The Keyblade was practically given to you on a silver platter, and all you use it for is to cause pain and suffering wherever you go! You were born with the ability to wield the Keyblade, but I earned mine!"

"Now I finally understand why you were so obsessed with making me one of your vessels," he went on. "It wasn't just because you were moving down the list like you told Riku. You did it because you couldn't stand the idea of someone like me on the side of the Light. You can't get people to give you the time of day without manipulating them. I could make friends with a rock just by talking to it. You were given years and years of training to wield a weapon you were born to use. I'm a nobody compared to you and yet I earned the right to wield one without any formal training whatsoever. You talk about how the Darkness is misunderstood rather than inherently evil but your actions only reinforce the stereotype. And here I stand, living proof that you were right. I'm everything you're not and the idea that I would be one of the Guardians of Light just infuriated you didn't it?" Xehanort didn't say anything, but the rage on his face told Sora everything he needed to know.

"And now you're trying to manipulate me again like you have everyone else," Sora continued. "Because you can't stand the idea that I restored the original X – Blade without even trying while you wasted your whole life trying to make pale imitations of the real thing." At this point, Xehanort was so infuriated with the seventeen year old Master that he dropped all pretense of being calm and collected and simply charged at the boy in pure, unrestrained fury. Realizing that the old man had already lost, Braig decided that now was the time for him to achieve his ultimate goal.

As Sora swung the X – Blade towards the older Master, the Unchained Key bearer leaped in front his arc, taking the first hit. The wave of energy unleashed from the blade tore a gaping wound in the one-eyed man's chest and sent him hurtling across the courtyard. With one Organization member down and one to go, Sora parried Xehanort's blow before counterattacking with a Blizzaga spell that froze the old man's arm and knocked him back towards the Fountain Plaza. He was so focused on fighting Xehanort that he never heard Braig gasp out the words "thank you" before the Unchained breathed his last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… Braig's dead. Suicide by Keyblade Wielder, hence my decision to tag this fic for suicide on AO3 just in case. And he's not going to be coming back in the sequels either. 
> 
> The comments about where in the timeline certain Seekers of Darkness were picked up from were to give context to when everyone was from. 
> 
> As for Sora's whole long speech to Xehanort, I figured that after all the long speeches to various heroes about how their efforts are futile, he will be triumphant, and/or imploring them to join him, it was time for Sora to give the old guy a taste of his own medicine. And yes, Xehanort getting his arm frozen is a deliberate callback to the part of the Birth By Sleep cinematic movie at the end of KH2 Final Mix where Xehanort freezes Terra's arm.
> 
> As for why the two Foretellers appear to remember their time in the future, they'd don't exactly. It's complicated. There's going to be a scene in the last Final Boss chapter explaining that little detail.


	75. Dismiss

#### Daybreak Town – Seacoast Park

#### July 31, 2015

Sora rolled out of the way just as Master Xehanort's Keyblade buried itself in the pavement of Daybreak Town's streets. Although the old Keyblade Master's attacks were growing increasingly sloppy and erratic, his attacks were no less powerful than they were before, forcing Sora to focus more on defending himself than on attacking. As Sora leaped back, Xehanort tried to increase his advantage by summoning his old Guardian Heartless. With a swing of the X – Blade at the beast's tail, Sora quickly removed the Guardian from the equation.

Rather than fade away in a cloud of black smoke like all the other Heartless, it went out the way Xion had done a few years ago, disintegrating in tiny little flecks of light. Unbeknownst to either combatant, the light meant that the spirit of the human from which the Guardian Heartless had been created, the spirit of the Foreteller's Master, had finally been set free after eight thousand years of servitude. With another of Xehanort's trump cards gone, Sora began testing his new dark powers as the fight went on.

After blocking Xehanort's Keyblade, Sora experimentally warped behind the older Master and cast Dark Firaga. This stunned the Keyblade Master long enough for Sora to take a few swings at him with the X – Blade. Xehanort quickly recovered and started swinging back. As the battle went on, Sora gradually drove Xehanort back towards the portal. With a blast of Darkness, Sora drove the older man out of the portal and back into the Keyblade Graveyard. A powerful aura of Darkness surrounded the enraged Keyblade Master as the portal closed behind them.

Before Xehanort could make another move for the Books of Prophecies, Mickey leaped up onto the plateau on which they stood and took a swing at the old Master. Xehanort warped out of the way and created another plateau that rose even higher than the one Mickey and Sora stood on. Riku and the others quickly joined them, and once Sora had been brought up to speed on Young Xehanort's change of heart, the heroes leaped into action. With a combination of Parkour, Flowmotion, and Aeroga spells, the Guardians of Light ascended the cliff face while a Coalition Gummi Ship flew down to the lower terrace to retrieve the Books.

The group reached the top in time to witness Xehanort summoning a blue Kingdom Hearts moon in the skies overhead like he had done thirteen years ago. X – Blade in hand, Sora led the charge as the heroes raced into battle. Terra hung back and fired his Ultima Cannon shotlock at Xehanort as the battle began. Blinded by his rage and obsession with finally attaining his goals, Xehanort couldn't bring himself to warp away from the Keyblade Graveyard as the heroes of light took turns tag-teaming against him.

He expertly parried blows from Roxas, Xion, Riku, and Terra before knocking them back. Almost immediately, Mickey, Donald, Goofy rushed forward to take their places. The mouse and duck's smaller size allowed them to land a few hits while the older man was focused on going after the dog. After gaining enough focus to blast away the Disney Town trio, Aqua and Lea quickly tagged in and took their place, alongside Vanitas and Xehanort's younger self. The betrayal of his past self and his former apprentice came as a shock to the Keyblade Master, throwing him even further off guard.

With the assistance of Vanitas and his past self, Xehanort was quickly forced back to the edge of the plateau. As he stood on the edge of the cliff, the desert floor of the Keyblade Graveyard looming thousands of feet below him, the crowd parted. Vanitas, Aqua, Lea, and Xehanort's teenage self each took a step to the side to allow Sora to come charging through to strike the final blow. But before the young man could swing his blade, Xehanort recovered from his rage-fueled daze. Seizing the opportunity to achieve his ultimate goal, when Sora drew within range, Xehanort reached out and caught the edge of the X – Blade with his bare hand.

Blood seeped from his cut hand, but Xehanort held his grip in spite of the pain. Sora began pouring his energy into the Keyblade to use a variation of Vanitas' old Dark Cannon attack to destroy Xehanort with a burst of energy once his grip failed. Seeing that now was the time for him to make his move, Xehanort removed one hand from the X – Blade and summoned his own weapon, knocking the X – Blade into the air just as Sora released the energy in a massive bolt of light.

The beam raced straight up into the sky and hit the target Xehanort intended it to hit. The ground shook as the glow of Kingdom Hearts shifted from pale blue to pure white. Xehanort grinned insidiously as a beam of light from the now unlocked Kingdom Hearts struck the ground between himself and Sora. In an instant, the two Keyblade Masters were gone in a flash of light. For a moment, everyone just stood there in shock, unsure of what had just happened or what to do next.

* * *

#### The Land of Departure – Library

#### 5,985 B.C.

"There," Luxu remarked to himself as he finished mounting his Keyblade on the walls of the new castle. After being returned to their own time by Young Xehanort, their memories of the future quickly faded, but their intense guilt and regret for the chaos and death their actions had caused still lingered. So after returning to the past, they gathered their surviving followers and fled Daybreak Town shortly before the world was shattered, and its fragments consumed by Darkness. Many of the surviving Leopardos soldiers, upon realizing how much destruction they'd caused, had chosen to turn their Keyblades, which were originally intended to conquer the Light, towards defending it instead.

Not everyone had enthusiastically joined the new Order of the Keyblade, however. Some survivors of the war, Luxu included, were so ashamed of what they'd done that they'd forsaken the Keyblade altogether. He had chosen to leave his mounted on the walls of the castle in the Land of Departure as a cautionary tale to others not to follow in his footsteps. And then there were the handful of fanatics who refused to give up the war-time dogma. They were so obsessed with power that they refused to submit to the new Keyblade Order, and went off to conquer their own territories.

Luxu had spent the last decade hunting down and executing those traitors before they became a danger to the World Order that had been created. In order to preserve the peace and stability of the fragmented worlds, contact between them was forbidden except in the direst of emergencies, and the wielders of the Keyblade were sworn to operate in complete secrecy. Now, though, with the last of the Dark Ones vanquished, it was time for him to retire. As he walked back to the front doors of the castle, he thought of places where he could go to settle down and find a way to atone for his sins. He walked back into the throne room in time to see Gula arriving from the other end.

"Do you really have to go?" the Grand Master of the new Order of the Keyblade asked as he walked over and gave his long-time friend a hug goodbye. "It won't be the same around here without you."

"I'm sorry, Gul," the Outcast replied sadly. "But just being here is a constant reminder of everything I've done. All the pain and suffering I've caused that led to this point. You will always be my best friend, but I can't stay here any longer." After promising to keep in touch as much as possible, Luxu switched his Keyblade to its glider form and flew off into the Lands Between in search of a place to call home. Eventually, he settled down on a small world known as the Destiny Islands. After living there for a few months, he eventually fell in love.

Deciding to spend the rest of his days on the islands, he eventually married the young woman who'd captured his heart, and they settled down to start a family together. Despite his changed outlook after the war, his descendants and reincarnations inherited both the wanderlust and curiosity of his youth and his recognizable silver hair. Sometimes his heart was reincarnated as one of his own descendants, sometimes not. None of it really mattered, until one day, his Great-Kingdom Hearts knows how many times-grandson encountered a lone figure in a brown robe on the beaches of the smaller island.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Land of Departure scene at the end is how I'm reconciling the treachery of Luxu with why his Keyblade is hanging on the walls of the Land of Departure. And yes, I am suggesting that Luxu is Riku's ancestor. Whether that indicates that Master Xehanort is a distant relative of Riku's is up to your own imagination, but I left it vague enough that it could be interpreted. either way.


	76. Destati

#### Kingdom Hearts – Inner Layers

#### July 31, 2015

Being transported inside Kingdom Hearts itself was certainly an eye opening experience, Sora mused as he fell through the depths of the Heart of All Worlds. Hearing Braig's description of it in the letters he'd left for Kairi had at least prepared the teenager somewhat, but what he wasn't prepared for was the revelation that Kingdom Hearts  _wasn't_ comprised of pure Light like all the legends believed. Sure it was the source of light, but Kingdom Hearts was exactly half light, half darkness. Since it was explicitly described as being comprised of the hearts of people and the hearts of world, it made sense that Kingdom Hearts would be a mix of both, just like the people whose hearts comprised it.

 _It's still a surprise, though,_ he thought as he fell through the depths of the Great Heart, using a Magnega spell to drag Xehanort along behind him. After a few rounds of intense, battle, Xehanort called up a Meteor spell that sent the two Keyblade Masters tumbling through the light. Ordinarily, a spell as simple as Magnega wouldn't be so effective, but he'd quickly figured out that being inside the source of all light and darkness in the worlds allowed him to channel its power to achieve feats his body would never be cable of achieving otherwise. Yes, all darkness. Sora was also surprised to discover Unversed floating down through the cluster of hearts towards Kingdom Hearts' core.

He quickly put the pieces together in his head and deduced that while Vanitas had been born with the ability to bring Unversed into the Realm of Light, they weren't really "fledgling emotions given physical form" as he'd once claimed. In reality, the Unversed actually seemed to be the embodiment of the darkness in hearts that Braig said was washed out after a person died and before they were reincarnated.  _People like Mickey with very little darkness in their Hearts probably make relatively weak Unversed_ , Sora theorized as he fell,  _while people like Xehanort produce more powerful ones_.

Sora retained his focus on bringing Xehanort down with him while he shielded his eyes from a bright light that he and the mad Keyblade Master were approaching.  _That must be the core of Kingdom Hearts,_ he realized as he and Xehanort were sucked into the light. When the light faded, Sora found himself standing on a familiar beach that he hadn't actually set foot on in weeks.  _The innermost level of Kingdom Hearts most likely reflects the heart of whoever comes here,_ he thought as he turned to face Xehanort one last time.

Readying the X – Blade for battle, Sora took a deep breath to center himself before this confrontation. As much as he despised Xehanort, the center of Kingdom Hearts would be considered sacred ground if it were a physical location. Even if killing Xehanort was necessary, he bottled up all his frustrations with the madman, fearing that if he killed the old Keyblade Master out of malice rather than for the safety of the worlds, his actions might tip the delicate balance of power between Light and Darkness in here, and irreparably corrupt Kingdom Hearts.

With another deep breath, he at least allowed the old man the courtesy of summoning his Keyblade first, wanting to make this as brief but honorable as possible. With his black, almost demonic looking Keyblade in hand, Xehanort charged at Sora with what almost sounded like an animalist roar. As the madman coated the blade in dark fire, Sora simply stood there, unflinching as the maniac raced towards him. He just stood there, X – Blade in hand, waiting for Xehanort to get close enough.  _Now,_ he thought as he swung the ancient blade.

"This is for Kairi," he declared calmly as he easily blocked Xehanort's flaming strike, the impact leaving the older man reeling long enough for Sora to smack him with the flat of the blade, knocking him backwards along the beach. "For Ludor. For Isa. For Riku's clone." Despite his frustration with the man, Sora remained calm and collected as the battle continued. With his technique and skill hindered by both age and his blinding, all-consuming fury, Xehanort was quickly reduced to being smacked around by the X – Blade. "For Xavier and Quintus," he continued as he fired a Thundaga spell at the older man. "For Lea and Namine. For Xion and Roxas. For Terra and Aqua. Ven. Vanitas. Yen Sid. Myde. Ienzo. Dilen, Even. Aeleus. Ansem. Eraqus. For everyone who's life you've every ruined. Your days of scheming are over Xehanort. You will never inflict pain or suffering on anyone else, ever again."

With that final declaration, a beam of light shot out from the X – Blade, striking Xehanort in the heart and reducing him to a cloud of ash in a matter of seconds. Sora winced as the elderly Keyblade Master was vaporized before his eyes. He did not pity Xehanort, but disintegration still seemed like a violent way to go. Still, he felt an intense feeling of satisfaction as a small blackened Heart rose up from the ashes as Xehanort's dusty remains settled on the sandy beach. Once the madman's heart had left what little was left of his thoroughly dead body, the ashes were immediately washed away by the waves lapping against the island shores.

 _A pity he could not see the error of his ways in time to change them,_ he heard a voice say sadly in his head.

 _Who's there?_  He asked mentally, slightly wary of voices in his head despite Vanitas' turn to the side of good.  _How are you inside my head?_

 _I have been with you since you restored my ancient form,_ the voice replied.  _As for who I am, that's a very tricky question to answer. I have gone by many different names over the course of hundreds of cycles. I have watched the world rise and fall over and over again since the day I was first forged from the fires of the Universe. I have taken many different forms over the millennia. Sometimes I have been passed between the hands of men as a weapon of sacred power. Other times I have become flesh and walked among them. Sometimes I've even done both just to make things interesting. As such, I am different things to many different people._

 _So… you're the X – Blade then?_ Sora asked back voicelessly, a little surprised that he was talking to the spirit of the blade that Xehanort had coveted for decades.  _I know Keyblade were always alive but I never really expected being able to talk with the original._ The spirit of the X – Blade replied with a pretty funny response that actually got a chuckle out of the teenager. As the laughter died down, though, the two turned towards discussing something much more important. Now that the X – Blade had been restored and Sora chosen to wield it, would he take up the mantle of Grand Master of the Order of the Keyblade, as the blade's previous wielder had done? After a few minutes of contemplation however, Sora refused.

 _The temptation to abuse the power you provide is too great for anyone to handle, mortal or immortal,_ he explained to the spirit of the blade in his head.  _No one should have this power. The X – Blade was created to be the guardian of Kingdom Hearts. Until it's needed again, I think it's better if it stayed here where it belongs, out of the reach of those who would abuse it for their own gain._

 _A wise decision,_ the X – Blade commented as Sora walked over to the waterfall near the entrance to the Secret Place and buried the blade up to its hilt in the pool at the base of the waterfall.  _Unexpected, but a wise decision nonetheless. When you're ready to return to the Realm of Light, just head through the tunnel towards the door where your world's Keyhole normally resides. But before you go, allow me to give you a parting gift._ A moment later, a small light floated down from the wall of light surrounding the center of Kingdom Hearts, coming down to rest in Sora's hand. The light expanded outward into the familiar shape of a Keyblade.

Once the light faded, the X – Blade had one final request for Sora. After Xehanort had casued it to inadvertently unlock Kingdom Hearts, someone needed to wield it in order for Kingdom Hearts to be locked again. When that was done, the scattered worlds would begin to recombine into one whole world again. Once that request had been granted, Sora walked through the tunnel to the old Secret Place with his brand new Keyblade in hand. Even inside Kingdom Hearts, the carvings on the walls were exactly the same as they were on the real island. He walked into the main cave to find the door leading to his world's heart opened to reveal a soft white glow emanating from it. The Door to Light. Taking a deep breath, Sora stepped through. Although not without smiling bashfully as he walked passed the drawing of him and Kairi sharing a Paopu fruit.

* * *

#### Destiny Islands – Seashore

#### 1940

An instant after the brown-robed figure claiming to be his future self had given him his mission of travelling the time stream to gather several different incarnations of himself, along with a small number of other specific individuals for the purpose of creating the "Real Organization XIII," Young Xehanort reappeared on the beach. The death of his future self forcibly returned him to his original point in time, and his memories of his future were immediately stripped from his mind upon his arrival in the past.

For a moment he just stood there, disoriented, as he tried to recall what had had happened to the strange figure in the brown robe he'd seen walking up the beach towards him only a few moments ago. But after a few minutes even that memory too faded from his mind. With a sigh, the young man looked out at the ocean of the world that had been his prison for the last nineteen years of his life. If only he could escape this tiny place.

"This world is just too small," he said sadly to nobody in particular for what was probably the millionth time in his life. Though he could no longer remember the encounter with his future self, his path was set, every action he would take for the next seven and a half decades was engraved into his heart. His future was already set in stone. No power in heaven and earth could change it now. But even so, the day he'd had that bizarre experience that he'd written off as a hot flash or something mundane, he'd felt a strange sense of satisfaction, as if he'd made a small difference in the world regardless of what he would do in the future.

* * *

#### The Keyblade Graveyard – High Terrace

#### July 31, 2015

As the Door to Kingdom Hearts sealed itself shut behind him, Sora was immediately tackled in a hug by Kairi. They kissed for a moment before teasing shouts of "get a room" from Lea and Riku forced them to save the smooching for later. Once they'd all calmed down from the battle, Sora explained what had happened and what he'd learned during his journey into the depths of Kingdom Hearts. Everyone was relieved to hear confirmation of Xehanort's demise, having already presumed his death when his teenage self unexpectedly faded back into the time stream a little while ago. Like Sora, they all knew that their Keyblades were alive in a sense, but the revelation that the X – Blade was actually able to speak, albeit telepathically, a shock to them all.

Once Sora had finished by explaining how he'd left the X – Blade hidden in the core of Kingdom Hearts so that nobody would be able to steal it or abuse its power before it needed to be used, everyone agreed that while unexpected, it was still a smart move on his part. Once everyone had finished sharing stories of their own battles, Namine, Hayner, Pence, and Olette beamed them all back up to the Kingdom to fly them back to Twilight Town so that they could all pick up their extra Gummi Ships. After that? Well, Xehanort was destroyed once and for all, the X – Blade was restored and safely stored where nobody would be able to reach it unless it wanted to be found, the World was beginning the process of putting itself back together into one whole planet, and for the time being, Maleficent's cabal had scattered to the wind. It was time to celebrate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the Xehanort Reports explicitly state that his original body is too old for him to wait long enough to complete his plans, it made sense for him to be in his 80s at the beginning of Birth By Sleep. As for Sora refusing the opportunity to become the permanent wielder of the X – Blade for the rest of his life, the reason I had him leave it behind inside Kingdom Hearts is because I realized that having the X – Blade as Sora's main weapon past KH3 would make him feel overpowered,. So having Sora leave it in Kingdom Hearts seemed like a nice way to prevent that kind of problem without destroying it all over again. For reference, Sora' new Keyblade is the new design seen in all the KH3 trailers.
> 
> The "Kingdom Hearts is full of Unversed" bit is something that was proposed in the comments of the Rebirth theory that the whole reincarnation idea came from, and I ran with it. While the sentient X-Blade may seem a little out of nowhere, it's not really. Back in the Atlantis chapters, the king of Atlantis revealed that Kingdom Hearts was sentient. So as I planned that part, I thought: 'if Kingdom Hearts is sentient, why not the X-Blade?' in any case, the whole talking X - Blade is something that will be expanded on in the sequel. Speaking of my upcoming sequels, I've actually got them divided up into two different sagas. Since everything up to Kingdom Hearts 3 is part of the Dark Seeker saga, as it's been called in interviews with Tetsuya Nomura, my sequels are divided into the Acolytes of Chaos saga and the Invaders from Beyond Saga. The plan I came up with regarding the sentience of Kingdom Hearts and the X-Blade is being saved for Invaders from Beyond, with Acolytes of Chaos dealing with putting all the worlds back together into the whole planet they were before the Keyblade War.
> 
> Anyway, now that I've explained that, Xehanort is finally dead! Woohoo! Cue the fireworks! (and boy do I hope it's as cathartic in the actual game as it was for me to write) but this story isn't quite over just yet. You all know what comes next, dear readers. A triumphant ending scene, a heartwarming end-credits montage showing what happens on all the worlds you visit once the game is over, and an epilogue. There will be no secret ending for this, because I feel that because its role is to wrap up the Xehanort story-line, there shouldn't be one. That way the next game after KH3 can start with a blank slate.


	77. Dearly Beloved

#### Radiant Garden – Outer Mountains

#### August 1, 2015

 _I wish things had turned out differently,_ Lea thought silently to himself as he stood on the shores of the lake that surrounded Radiant Garden, making Isa's preparations beneath the flashing glow of the fireworks being launched from the city walls. Behind him, Aqua, Roxas, and Xion stood and watched as he lowered the corpse of his childhood friend, the blue haired man who used to be like a brother to him, into the small wooden boat on the edge of the lake. In Radiant Garden, there were two ways to do a funeral: a traditional grave somewhere up in the mountains for the average citizen, or what residents of some Tethered worlds would refer to as the traditional Viking funeral for warriors and nobility. And Isa had been a warrior right to the bitter end. While Aqua had offered to help give Isa a more public funeral, Lea had insisted on doing this privately.

"Even if he died free, he still fought for Xehanort to the bitter end," he'd replied sadly. "No use in giving him a hero's funeral when he was anything but." Roxas and Xion had walked over and given him a hug after that. The two of them had never really liked the man when he was Saix, and rightfully so considering how much of a jerk he was to Xion, but once Lea had told them Isa's story, their dislike for his Nobody vanished in an instant. Though Saix had always been cruel to the two of them, they couldn't help but mourn the man that, thanks to Xehanort, they would never get to meet. Once the funeral preparations were complete, Lea began the obituary.

"Isa was always like a brother to me," he began, looking down sadly at his childhood friend's dark blue jacket with the yellow crescent moon just below the left shoulder. "Even when he was an abrasive jerk in the Organization, he still looked out for me. Because that's what he did. He looked out for me, even at his own expense. When we got in trouble as kids, he'd always be the one to try and protect me, even when it should have been the other way around considering how emotionally abusive his parents were. That was why he always seemed so emotionless to those who didn't know him well. His home life was so terrible that he just bottled everything up inside. I was one of the few people in all of Radiant Garden who he would ever be open around, and even then he only went halfway."

"We only became Nobodies by being in the wrong place at the wrong time," he went on. "After we joined the Organization, we started working on our own agenda. But over time, the little piece of Xehanort's heart that had been implanted in him when he got his scar slowly took control. Until one day, he just stopped being Isa." Lea appeared to be on the verge of tears now. "I used to think that he just ditched me once we became Nobodies," he continued sadly. "I never realized that Xehanort had been slowly stripping away his will until he was just a puppet on the old man's strings. My biggest regret is that I never figured it out sooner. If I had, maybe he would still be here today. Maybe we'd still be friends..."

At this, Lea finally broke down as all his pent up regrets and what-ifs just flowed out of him like a dam bursting. Roxas and Xion came over and give their friend a comforting hug. They had never liked Saix, but hearing so much about his past made the two of them wish that they could have known him before Xehanort started taking control. After a few minutes, Lea managed to regain his composure enough to finish the funeral. With a short prayer in ancient Atlantean, the four Keyblade Wielders pushed the boat off into the lake.

As the small boat drifted slowly towards the outer walls of Radiant Garden, Lea took a deep breath to steady himself for the next step. Breathing a little bit of flames as he exhaled, Lea launched a Firaga spell into the sky. Unlike most Fire spells, which either flew in single file or homed in on their target, the fireball arced through the sky, the speed and angle of the flaming projectile timed just right so that fire and wood met in a blazing clash along the waterline. For a few hours, the four of them just stood there, watching the flames consume Isa's body as the floating funeral pyre sank beneath the waves.

Once his friend's body was laid to rest, Lea dried his eyes, and lead the group back to the party. As they made their way back to the city, Roxas quickly realized that Lea wasn't ready to celebrate. Isa's death had hit him pretty hard, and just giving the man a funeral wasn't going to make the pain go away, however much he tried to pretend otherwise. So instead of joining the party going on in the Central Square, Roxas lead the group through town towards the shopping district to a shop selling the trio's favorite food.

A short while later, the three friends sat on the walls of Radiant Garden, eating Sea-Salt Ice Cream like they used to while Lea shared embarrassing stories of all the shenanigans he and Isa had gotten into as kids. Talking about the good times he and Isa had had was clearly helping him. It would be a while before the Flurry of Dancing Flames came to terms with his childhood friend's death, but Roxas and Xion were there to help him along the way.

* * *

#### Destiny Islands – Seashore

#### August 1, 2015

 _It's amazing just how much everything's changed in the last month,_ Sora thought to himself as he sat on the dock on the small island looking out at the sunrise. After all the changes he'd gone through, both as a person and in terms of his powers, right now he just needed a place where he could sit and think about all of it in the one place that would always remain the same. Not even the Gummi Ships making landings on the main island flew over here. Considering how much he enjoyed piloting them, he still hadn't decided if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

His internal monologues and angst stopped short when he thought he heard someone walking on the wooden planks and platforms behind him. After listening again and hearing nothing, he concluded that it was just his imagination and leaned back to look at the twilight sky. Or he would have if he hadn't leaned back to find Kairi staring down at him like she used to. Startled, he bolted upright and almost fell off the dock before Kairi caught him and pulled him back up.

"Give me a break, Kairi," he laughed. It felt like it had been ages since the last time they'd goofed around like this. And to think it had only been three years ago that they and Riku had been three children eager to explore, ignorant of the darker sides of the universe.

"I knew I'd find you snoozing down here, Sora," she replied with a chuckle. "You lazy bum." Sora couldn't help but smile at the lighthearted jab as she sat down on the dock beside him.

"You haven't called me that in a while," he commented as he put an arm around her back. "I missed this, you know," he added as he gestured around the small little island with his free hand. "The three of us just spending all of our days out here on the island, just doing whatever we wanted. Not having to worry about Xehanort or the Heartless, or any of that."

"Well, things change," Kairi said as she leaned her head against his shoulder. "We can never go back to the way things were. That's just a part of growing up." For a few minutes, they just sat there in silence, staring at the sunrise and just enjoying being together. "But change isn't all bad," she went on while putting mimicking Sora's pose with her own arm. "You don't have to do any of this alone, Sora," she added with a warm smile. "I'm right here to help you through all of it. And so will all the others. Just like I know you'll be there for me while I'm trying to figure out how to balance being a Keyblade wielder with being an actual princess."

At this, Sora's melancholy attitude brightened up considerably. So what if he had dark powers now? It didn't change who he was on the inside. And even if it took him years to master, he had his friends to help him through thick and thin.  _It's just like I told Riku in Hollow Bastion all those years ago,_ he thought to himself as he pulled Kairi in for a romantic hug.  _My friends are my power, and I'm theirs._

"You're right," he replied as they pulled way from the hug. "It doesn't matter what the future holds. We'll all get through it together." Kairi burst out laughing when after a moment of silence he asked what they were going to do now.

"Riku told me our old raft is still there," she said with a mischievous grin. "We never really got to take it out. How about we take it and go? Just the two of us."

"Are you serious?" Sora asked, half curious, half excited. On the one hand it was really sudden, but on the other hand, he couldn't say no to a perfect second date opportunity when it fell into his lap.

"Why not?" Kairi answered. "We've still got a month until school starts, and I think after all the fighting and chaos of the last few weeks we deserve a vacation. What do you say, Sora?" Sora didn't even have to consider the idea before he leaned in and gave Kairi a long kiss.

"Let's do it," he replied with a smile when they finally came up for air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And mirroring the opening scene of Kingdom Hearts 1 (not the big CGI opening with Simple and clean or the tutorials, but the first real story cut-scene, you all know the one) and Sora and Kairi's dock scene was completely intentional. I felt like it would be a great way to book end the Dark Seeker Saga by having them mimic one of the first scenes from the original game. Think about it – here they are, back on the island. They're both older and wiser, but some things never change.


	78. End Credits: March Caprice

#### Destiny Islands – Sora's House

#### August 1, 2015

The afternoon after Xehanort's downfall, Sora's parents were waiting anxiously for news of their son. They had already come to terms with the fact that he was going to be off fighting the forces of evil in the universe, but when there hadn't been any word from the Coalition military about the status of their son's foes, they began to fear the worst. They were just about to walk down to the new trading post that had been set up on the other side of the island for interplanetary travelers and see if there was any news of the conflict with the Organization when they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Their hearts leapt for joy when they opened the front door of the house to find their son standing there nervously, with Kairi reassuringly holding his arm. His mom felt both sad and happy for him. On the one hand, she was sad to see her that her little boy was all grown up. But on the other, she'd known that he and Kairi had harbored romantic feelings for each other for years, and was happy that they had finally managed to admit how they really felt about each other. After welcoming the young couple inside, she asked what was wrong. She had seen that look on her son's face too many times to not know what it meant. Something was bothering her son.

With a little encouragement from Kairi, Sora told them about what had happened in the World That Never Was. His parents had been surprised by how far their son was willing to go to save Kairi, but were secretly proud of their son because his actions, despite their uncharacteristic ferocity, showed just how much he cared about Kairi. That he loved her so much he was willing to go above and beyond the point where any rational man would have given up in order to save her whenever someone attempted to inflict pain on her. If that wasn't a sign that the two of them were going to get married someday, then she didn't know what was.

Once Sora had finished his story, though, the mood became much more serious. By the end of the tale, the mother of the X – Blade Master understood what was wrong with her son. He had gained these new dark powers as a result of what he'd done to save Kairi, and he was terrified of how his own parents would react. She and her husband quickly enveloped their seventeen-year old son in a tight hug as they reassured him that they would always love him no matter what he did or what kind of powers he had.

* * *

#### Enchanted Dominion – Audience Chamber

#### August 1, 2015

Phillip was sitting in the throne room making announcements to the lords in his kingdom regarding the danger Xehanort and Maleficent posed. Their world had only just been inducted to the Coalition a few days ago, and the news had spread quickly throughout the land. His people accepted the idea of other worlds rather quickly, as it explained why Maleficent had attacked the castle after Aurora's sixteenth birthday, and where the three good fairies often went when they weren't living at court.

He was about to show the lords the images of Xehanort and his followers provided by the Coalition when Aurora walked into the audience chamber. Ignoring the startled proclamations of the assembled court, he raced across the room and gave his wife a tremendous hug. The king didn't care about the cheers rising up from the assembled crowd as they raced around the king and queen to offer their congratulations.

* * *

#### Castle of Dreams – Ballroom

#### August 1, 2015

Celebrations quickly broke out across the kingdom when Princess Cinderella returned from her captivity. Everyone was relieved, including her stepsister Anastasia. Cinderella was glad that her stepsister had found some happiness. Despite the bullying she received from her stepsisters throughout her life, Anastasia was always the kinder of the two, only really participating in the bullying out of peer pressure, and sneaking in acts of kindness whenever she thought her mother and sister weren't looking.

Having survived the attack of the Unversed that killed her mother and sister, Anastasia became the sole occupant of the large family house, but she wasn't a big fan of the solitude, so she quickly sold the house and moved into the village near the castle. Eventually, she'd met and fallen in love with a baker who lived in town. Because time had stopped while their world had been consumed by the Heartless, all of this had happened in the last three years. Although Cinderella was still upset about the bullying, she nonetheless forgave Anastasia after her stepsister had proven that she changed.

The party to celebrate Cinderella's safe return was spectacular, even more so when it was revealed that Xehanort was dead. Like the Echanted Dominon, Castle of Dreams had only joined the Coalition recently, but already tales of Xehanort and Maleficent's crimes had spread. Everyone was glad to hear that the madman was dead. Whether or not Maleficent was dead had yet to be determined. She'd apparently been killed in the battle of Cable Town, but considering that she'd come back from the dead before, there was still a chance she'd return. But with the birth of the Coalition, her next attempt at conquest, if it ever came, would not be as easy or successful as her previous attempts had been. The celebrations for Cinderella's return were only matched in extravagance by the one that accompanied the announcement of her pregnancy.

* * *

#### Disney Town – Audience Chamber

#### August 1, 2015

Minnie sat sadly on the throne of the audience chamber in the castle, watching as Donald and Daisy were reunited and Goofy gave his son Max an embarrassingly big hug. She was pleasantly surprised when Donald got down on one knee and finally proposed to Daisy, but her happiness for her friend was dimmed when she realized that Mickey was nowhere to be seen. She loved her husband, but his frequent, long absences were starting to get on her nerves a bit. Her frustration vanished and her sadness increased when Goofy walked over and removed his hat as he sadly informed her of Master Yen Sid's passing.

 _No wonder Mickey hasn't come home yet,_ she realized as she gave Goofy a sympathetic hug.  _Master Yen Sid was a friend to all of us, but to Mickey he was like a father. I can't be mad at Mickey for staying away from home a little longer to mourn._ In spite of her sadness, she knew that the ancient Keyblade Master would not want everyone's grief to dominate their lives. So she got off the throne and walked over to congratulate Donald and Daisy on their engagement.  _Yen Sid would want us to celebrate the victory over Xehanort_ , she thought as she gave Daisy a congratulatory hug.

* * *

#### Mount Olympus – The Underworld; Fields of Asphodel

#### August 1, 2015

Braig opened his eyes to find himself lying on the stony shores of the River Styx in the Underworld. Since he was only here as a non-corporeal spirit now that his physical body was dead, he didn't have to worry about standing on the edge of the river soaking wet. As he took in his surroundings, he saw the souls of the recently deceased – Isa, Ludor, and Hans – walking towards a set of ornate double doors a few hundred feet ahead. Realizing what it meant, he walked into the chamber to face his judgement.

And there he was, standing before the souls of the dead. He knew the way the judgement of the underworld worked. A panel of judges comprised of the already dead would sit and decide whether his spirit would be sent to Elysium (commonly referred to as Heaven on Tethered worlds) or to Tartarus, more commonly known as Hell. The judges would be selected from people who knew him when they were alive, which, considering his age, meant that there were a  _lot_ of souls to choose from.

So to say that the people chosen to judge him surprised him would be an absolute understatement. All seven judges looked down on him from very high pulpits. On the center platform stood a man with large white wings. Braig nodded in acknowledgement at the angel, one of many assigned to sit on each soul's judgement as a neutral third party. To the angel's left side sat the three judges chosen out of those who had borne witness to the recently deceased's sins and misdeeds. While on the being's right were the people who'd witnessed all their acts of kindness.

On the pro-condemnation side sat three people Braig barely even recognized. The only one who looked familiar was Shan Yu, the Hun leader he'd provided control of the Heartless to in the Land of Dragons. After the man had been defeated by Sora, Braig had executed the man himself before he'd gone back to the World That Never Was. The rest were random souls who Braig had ultimately seen as collateral damage in his grand plan to destroy Xehanort. And on the right were three people who the very sight of made his heart swell with bittersweet joy. To the right of the angel sat his old friend from Leopardos, Emma, and finally, Ava.

His joy soon turned to ash, however, when nobody could decide which part of the afterlife his soul was supposed to go to. Emma and Ava both felt that his actions were too immoral for him to make it to Elysium. But none of his victims felt his methods were evil enough for Tartarus. A nonexistent cold sweat developed on Braig's forehead as he realized with dawning horror what that meant. With the way the underworld judging system worked, if the judges couldn't reach an agreement, then his soul would remain in the underworld forever, consigned to the fields of Ashphodel, left wandering the endless caverns of the afterlife for all eternity.

In some ways, Braig felt that an eternity of nothing was worse than eternal torment. He'd heard stories during his physical visits to the Underworld's outer layer, and had heard stories from the ferryman Charon that some souls went insane from the monotony of Ashphodel. Given the choice between nothing and torment, Braig would admittedly have to choose torment, if only because when he was being tormented, he could mentally picture pleasant fantasies to comfort himself rather than accelerate his path to insanity. So he opened his mouth and spoke. With the panel of judges listening, he made one final impassioned plea to convince them not to reward his dark deeds, but to condemn them and send him to hell.

* * *

#### Port Royal – Tortuga

#### Date Unknown

As far as Jack Sparrow was concerned, today was a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, he was furious that the newly resurrected Barbossa had stolen the Black Pearl and its crew from him once again. On the other, the treacherous man at least had the courtesy to leave him with a dinghy and his first mate, Mr. Gibbs. After being slapped by the two women who'd accompanied him to the pier in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the fabled black Pearl, he woke Gibbs so that they could begin their search for the legendary Fountain of Youth. Barbossa may have stolen his ship, but Jack still had his maps. A little while later, the duo set off into the unknown, in search of adventure.

* * *

#### Agrabah – Royal Palace

#### August 1, 2015

The sultan of Agrabah was overjoyed when he received the news of Xehanort's downfall, only adding to the glee he felt that Maleficent's cabal had been driven from his territory. Fireworks delivered from Disney Town lit up the night sky as Jasmine and Aladdin walked through the city streets, stopping to sample every little celebration as they made their way towards the palace. As they approached the palace, the familiar blue face of the Genie swooped in from above to give them the most extravagant welcome home party imaginable.

* * *

#### Beast's Castle – Ballroom

#### August 1, 2015

Belle and Adam danced through the ballroom of their castle, happy to be home. Belle had returned a few hours ago, and celebrations of Xehanort's demise were being held throughout the Coalition's member worlds. Though Prince Adam's subjects had been slow to accept the existence of other worlds, once they did, they were glad to help support the fight against the madman. Right now, though, all that mattered to the prince was that his wife was home, safe and sound.

* * *

#### Mysterious Tower – Sorcerer's Loft

#### August 1, 2015

King Mickey shed many tears as he looked at Master Yen Sid's study. Although he had used magic to repair the damage Braig had done to the room, it still felt hollow and empty without his old mentor there to fill it with warmth. It just didn't feel the same without him. The universe had lost a powerful Keyblade Master, one of the oldest practitioners of magic, and a noble defender of the light. But to Mickey, none of that mattered. He had lost a beloved mentor, a loving father figure, and a cherished friend. The worlds would not be the same without him.

* * *

#### Land of Departure – Throne Room

#### August 1, 2015

After everything he'd done, Terra felt ashamed to even set foot in his old home. Even with some encouragement from Aqua and Ven, he still felt out of place. It wasn't the long white hair, however. Even though Xehanort had struck the killing blow, deep down Terra still blamed himself for their surrogate father's death. As much as he loved Aqua and cared about Ven like the little brother he'd never had growing up, he couldn't help but tune them out as they threw ideas around back and forth about using their Master's Keyblade to to expand some of the rooms inside the castle.

Honestly, Terra didn't really care ether way. Mostly because of his guilt and self-loathing, but he also preferred to see a physical drawing of what the space would look like before committing to a design. A familiar voice snapped out him out of his moping before it could truly begin. Terra, Aqua, and Ven all turned their heads to see the spirit of Master Eraqus standing up on the dais. Eraqus quickly dismissed the notion that Terra was to blame for his death. If anyone besides Xehanort was to blame, he had argued. it was himself for not trusting Terra and for trying to kill Ven.

"Besides," he said. "I didn't use my last moments in the realm of the living just to listen to you all blaming yourselves." That had managed to cheer the three former apprentices up, and they spent the next half hour talking about the future, how much they all missed him, even Terra and Aqua's burgeoning romance. When his time was up, Eraqus' form dissolved into pyre flies as his soul returned to its final resting place. Terra, Aqua, and Ven gave each other a group hug as they mourned their mentor's passing.

Off to the side, Vanitas simply leaned against the wall in silence. He had been expecting this. Sure it was naive to expect that everyone would immediately want to be his friend, but the least people could do was show a little appreciation for his contributions to the fight against Xehanort. He was about to make a sarcastic comment when Ven called out for him to come join the group hug. Baffled, surprised, and, quite honestly, happy to be recognized, he jogged over and was quickly enveloped the crushing mass of bodies. But despite being cramped in the middle, he didn't mind. He was happy to be accepted for the first time in his life.

* * *

#### Empire of the Sun – Pacha's Village

#### August 1, 2015

Emperor Kuzco was having the time of his life as he emerged from the small cottage he'd built for himself on the hill next to Pacha's. As he and his friend raced down the hill towards the pool below, he thought of how much he'd changed from the snotty stuck up teenager he'd been only a few weeks ago. But now, he was much more kind and humble, and honestly, his life was a lot better off for it.

* * *

#### Radiant Garden – High Tower

#### August 1, 2015

Dilan and Aeleus leaned over the railing in the upper reaches of the castle as they looked out over the party raging in the city square celebrating Xehanort's final defeat. While the fact that the man who had caused so much chaos in the universe was finally dead was certainly a cause for celebration, they didn't really feel like celebrating. After the siege of the World That Never Was, they had finally forgiven themselves for their role in the Fall of Radiant Garden and the old Organization, but their guilt still lingered.

A little while later, Even and Iezno walked in with a bag of food from the party for each of them. In a few minutes, the four Organization founders were eating and watching the festivities from afar, sharing stories amid the glow of the fireworks. Even was fascinated with Ienzo's discovery of the hidden world within his arcade, while Dilan was impressed with the strategic planning involved in the raid on Maleficent's Agrabah lair. Ansem would later come out and insist they join the party, but for now they were content to just sit and talk with each other like the good old days.

* * *

#### 100 Acre Wood – Bouncing Spot

#### August 1, 2015

Tigger and Roo bounced from tree stump to snow covered tree stump. It was good to have the whole family together. Off to the side, Eeyore and Kanga sat up on a ledge judging the bouncing competition while Piglet and Rabbit were examining the natural water pumping system they found in the area. Meanwhile Pooh was looking for honey while Owl flew from tree to tree in search of rare nuts to eat. The denizens of the 100 Acre Wood really were one big happy family, and Tigger was glad to have finally seen it.

* * *

#### Arendelle – Castle courtyard

#### August 1, 2015

With the wave of her hand, Elsa covered the floor of the palace courtyard with ice, freezing the fountains into decorative formations to form a temporary ice rink. Anna didn't skate, but Elsa nonetheless pulled her sister along across the ice. The two siblings skated along through the crowds around the courtyard. It felt good to finally be able to control her powers. When she was alone, she experimentally conjured up a snow sculpture of her friend Lea, who had helped her through it all. She quickly collapsed it when Anna came up behind her, and her sister gave no indication she saw it other than a knowing smirk as they skated around the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may not be a big fan of the Cinderella movies, but I like the whole subplot that develops Anastasia into a more like-able character (particularly her Once Upon A Time backstory), so the explanations regarding her in this chapter are my way of reconciling her sympathetic portrayal and story-line with the baker with her appearance in Birth By Sleep. And speaking of references to Once Upon A Time, Cinderella being pregnant was another one.
> 
> Braig's scene in the underworld was a little dark, but I wanted to make it abundantly clear that 1) he is absolutely not going to come back from the dead, and 2) his afterlife is not going to be cushy and happy just because his motives were sympathetic. I'm trying to avoid any readers pulling a Draco In Leather Pants over him.


	79. End Credits: Fantasia Alla Marcia

**Atlantica – Out at Sea**

**September 19, 2015**

Ariel smiled as she cradled her infant daughter Melody in her arms. She sang her child a soothing lullaby as she danced around the cabin of the ship carrying them out to sea. Melody had only been born a few weeks ago, and today she and Eric were bringing her out to introduce her dad to his granddaughter. Today was a day of celebration for everyone, and she couldn't wait. A minute later, Eric came in to let her know that they were nearly at the rendezvous point. A division of the palace guards waited on deck to protect the royal family in the event of a surprise attack by any of Urulsa's old comrades from what was now being called the Hellfire Club while a squadron of Coalition Gummi Ships flew in a defensive formation just above the clouds.

While Ariel and Eric both felt that the security was a little excessive, their daughter was the first child born from human and mermaid parents. Her very nature painted a target on her back, and that was just something that they would have to accept. They couldn't change the fact that there would always be villains like Maleficent looking to exploit their daughter for her own ends, but as long as they had the best protection possible, they wouldn't have to worry about anything.

* * *

**Monstropolis – Monsters Inc.; CEO's Office**

**October 1, 2015**

Sulley breathed a sigh of relief as he sipped his coffee in the comfort of his office. Waternoose and Randall had escaped, but there hadn't been any more after hours thefts in weeks. Though Maleficent and her allies were still out there, hopefully they would stay away from Monstropolis for a while. The monster world wasn't ready for that level of security threats, but hopefully attitudes towards humans would improve enough for the Monster city's government to join this "Daybreak Coalition." With a smile, the furry blue monster finished his coffee and locked up his office before going home for the night.

* * *

**The New World – Forest**

**August 1, 2015**

Pocahontas smiled as she reflected on how much things had changed in the last few weeks of her life. The arrival of the "English" settlers. Of John Smith. The tumultuous times that followed as both of their peoples nearly came to the brink of war over something that didn't exist on their land. Although she'd been told it would take months for them to return to their homeland, she was confident that John's wounds would not take long to heal. And the sooner he would come back to her. She sprinted to the forest towards Jamestown, as she did every day, in the hopes that there would be news from John. He'd been gone nearly eight months, and she was hoping that there might be some news that he was on his way back, or at the very least had recovered from his injuries. There had been no word since he'd left, but she was confident that today would be different.

* * *

**Oakey Oaks – Movie Theater**

**July 1, 2016**

Chicken Little cheered as the credits rolled at the end of the movie dramatization of his adventures. It was heavily exaggerated and dramatized till the point that it had almost no connection with what happened beyond the whole alien invasion premise, but honestly, he didn't mind. All that mattered was that the days of him being the outcast of town were over for good. Winning the game had only made them forget the sky falling incident for a short while. Proving that he was right and saving them all in the process had earned their respect for good. As he and his dad left the theater, he wondered how differently things would have turned out if Sora, Donald, and Goofy hadn't been there.  _Probably not very differently,_ he thought to himself with a chuckle.

* * *

**Deep Space – Turo Military Academy; Barracks**

**September 1, 2015**

Jim felt happy as he looked around the barracks in the Galactic Armada Academy. A lot had changed in a few weeks. On the way back to the spaceport, Silver had slipped away to avoid prison, but the old pirate had given him what little treasure he had so his mom could rebuild the Benbow In. When he'd reunited with her at the spaceport, she'd been thrilled with the news, but even more so that he'd come home safe and sound. After a few weeks he decided to attend the military Academy on Turo, and Captain Amelia had written a stellar letter of recommendation.

Although the rigor of boot camp was a big shock to his system, he was adjusting well, and was learning pretty quickly that until a few years ago, humans weren't known to exist outside of a small, primitive planet far beyond Federation territory. But at the moment he was more focused on another matter entirely: Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia's wedding. Although under ordinary circumstances, Jim wouldn't be allowed to leave the Academy until his training was over, the doc had insisted on Jim being his best man, so Captain Amelia had pulled a few strings to get him temporary leave to come back to Montressor for the wedding. He smiled as his thoughts turned to his mother.

Before he'd headed off to the academy, the new and improved Benbow Inn had already begun construction. He'd been nervous about leaving his mom alone, but she insisted she'd be fine. Morph had stayed behind to keep an eye on her. The young man breathed a sigh of relief at how much better he felt about his life. Things were finally looking up, and he couldn't wait to see the people he cared about again. Hopefully once the Benbow Inn was rebuilt, he could invite some of the friends he'd made here at the Academy over to visit when they were on leave together.

* * *

**Game Central Station – Hero's Duty; Chapel**

**September 1, 2015**

Ralph was thankful that the soldiers in Hero's Duty had a suit big enough to fit him, even if the shoes included were so small that he couldn't even wear them. He and Vanellope each stood on one side of the altar in the center of the room. Thousands of Hero's Duty soldiers and assorted Arcade characters were arrayed in the pews in front of them. They were all there for one reason, and one reason only. Felix and Calhoun's wedding. As the soldiers all trained their guns at the window behind the alter, the giant Best Man thought back to how much his life had changed in the last few weeks.

After he and Felix had returned to their own game, the Nicelanders were considerably nicer to him (except for Gene, but Gene had always been a jerk).  _Nothing like almost having the game unplugged to make them realize just how much they took me for granted, I guess,_ he'd thought. And they were all a lot better at showing their appreciation from then on. Felix always got the medal at the end of the game, but at the end of the day, they would always be right there to give him a cake with the words "Our favorite bad guy" written on it in frosting.

Because of his little escapade, bad guys throughout the arcade (minus the Cy-Bugs of course) were respected a lot more after that. Some characters still kept their distance (which was understandable, since the arcade had some games where the hero would die if they made physical contact with a bad guy) but they were still treated a lot better. Surge Protector stopped profiling them, and the arcade society was considerably more cheerful because of it.

And Vanellope was happy that her situation had improved as well. Even though she was the ruler of Sugar Rush, she rejected the gleaming white royal race car in favor of the one she and Ralph had made together. And the players loved her for her glitching. But for her, the best part of her day was when she won a race. Because then, when she got to look at the world outside the game cabinet, she could see directly into Niceland. And when that happened right as the Nicelanders were preparing to throw Ralph off the roof, they would both savor the chance to wave hello outside of their after-hours visit. For the two former outcasts, life was good.

* * *

**Kingdom of Corona – Castle; Dining Room**

**August 1, 2015**

Rapunzel smiled as she and Eugene sat down for dinner in the palace dining room. It had barely been a week since she'd learned the truth of her origins, and while the trauma of the events surrounding Gothel's death still lingered, she'd recovered surprisingly well. The party celebrating her return to her biological parents had only just ended two days ago, and Eugene was thankfully pardoned for his crimes. Although she was going through so many drastic changes in her life in such a short time, she was grateful to have him beside her through it all.

* * *

**The Lost Empire – Whitmore Mansion; Study**

**1914**

Everyone looked stunning as they sat around the fire in Preston Whitmore's living room. It had been a few days since they returned from Atlantis, and tonight they were preparing to give their official statement regarding the outcome of the expedition to the press. Because of the continued survival of the Altantean civilization, they weren't going to tell the press that the lost culture everyone believed to be a myth was still alive to this day. So now they sat around the fire in fancy clothes as they concocted their cover story to explain the absence of the missing members of the group. Mr. Whitmore smiled as he opened a package from Milo to reveal a necklace with an Atlantean crystal and an old photo of his grandfather. They were all going to miss Milo, but at least he'd found a place where he was happy.

* * *

**DunBroch – Throne Room**

**August 8, 2015**

Merida sighed inwardly as she sat on her throne, listening to every petitioner who came to her asking for help. Being queen was turning out to be more challenging than she had thought. Every day she had to meet with every person who came to her asking for her help and do what she could to assist them with this problem or that. It was frustrating, but she would deal with it. She had proven herself worthy to be queen, and she needed to reinforce that with her actions. She would deal with every problem that came her way, big or small. She would make her father proud.

* * *

**The Jungle – Edge of the Jungle**

**August 1, 2015**

Mowgli smiled as he, Shanti, Ranjan, Baloo and Baghera sat in the trees near the river after an afternoon in the jungle. After the red beasts had been driven from the jungle, his human father had deemed it safe to enter the jungle again. He had missed the jungle. Although he'd adapted well enough to human society, it was only among the flora and fauna of the jungle that he truly felt at home. So now, whenever he came into the jungle, he always came armed with a sharpened spearhead. That way if anything like the red beasts ever came to the jungle, he would be able to defend himself. He'd grown up around the dangers of the wilderness his entire life, and knew how to protect himself from predators. The jungle was his home, and he wasn't going to stay away simply because his human family thought it was dangerous.

* * *

**Sherwood Forest – Nottingham Chapel**

**August 1, 2015**

Everyone cheered as Friar Tuck pronounced Robin Hood and Maid Marian husband and wife. The cheering only grew louder when Robin leaned over and kissed the bride. After King Richard's return, things took a turn for the better for the people of Nottingham. The Coalition soldiers had brought back all the gold that Prince John had given to Maleficent, and Robin Hood and Little John were swiftly pardoned for their "crimes." The people of Nottingham clapped and cheered as the two foxes walked down the aisle towards the carriage that would take them on their honeymoon. With Prince John and his accomplices toiling away at the Royal Rock Pile, peace had returned to Sherwood Forest at long last.

* * *

**San Fransokyo – Fred's Mansion**

**August 1, 2015**

The various members of Big Hero 6 breathed a collective sigh of relief as they returned to Fred's house after a successful day of saving the city. Thankfully, there hadn't been any further sightings of the Heartless or Nobodies since Sora, Donald, and Goofy had left, but there were still other crazy things going on in the city for them to go and stop. Even so, they were looking forward to the day when the Daybreak Coalition made contact with San Fransokyo. They couldn't wait to see Sora and the others again.

* * *

**Cable Town – Floating Islands**

**August 1, 2015**

Although there was much rejoicing at the announcement of Xehanort's demise, there was very little in the way of celebrations happening in Cable Town. The battle between the burgeoning Daybreak Coalition and Maleficent's "Hellfire Club" had been rather destructive on the architecture of the sacred isles floating above the town. Nevertheless, Coalition soldiers had been on hand immediately following the battle to help with the rebuilding. For that, the townspeople were most grateful.

The people of Cable Town had suffered dearly under Maleficent's iron fist, and were glad to finally be rid of her. Restoration of the ancient ruins on the Floating Islands had progressed rapidly, and the people were quick to throw off the shackles of Maleficent's oppression. But now came the time not of celebration but of rebuilding and recovery. With the aid of the Coalition, Cable Town was slowly getting back on his feet.

* * *

**Twilight Town – Clock Tower; Clock Face**

**August 1, 2015**

For a few years, a certain trio of now-former Organization XIII members would come up to the clock tower every day and eat Sea Salt ice crew as they watched the sunset. But today, the ledge in question held not three, but seven people, as Namine, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Roxas, Lea, and Xion sat up on the clock tower and ate ice cream. The after-battle celebrations had been going on for almost an entire day by this point, so Roxas had suggested that the three of them head back up to their usual spot like they always did. Only this time, Roxas had argued, it would be their first trip as complete human beings.

As they arrived at the ice cream shop, they'd encountered Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Namine buying ice cream for their own celebrations. Roxas had almost instantly invited the four to join them up on the clock tower. Now they were all sitting there eating ice cream and trading stories. The three local teens laughed at some of the absurd things that had happened to the former Nobodies in their days with the Organization (or with Riku and DiZ in Namine's case, since her time as the Organizaion's prisoner was anything but pleasant), and Roxas, Xion, and Lea talked about their plans to move into the old mansion on the edge of town.

Roxas and Xion both felt at peace as they chewed their Sea Salt ice cream. For the first time in their short lives, they were free. Free from the repetitive missions of the Organization. Free from inadvertently sucking up each other's power. Free from having to sacrifice themselves in order to make Sora whole. Don't get them wrong, Sora was a great guy, but both of them were glad to just be free to live how they wanted to and be themselves. For the first time in a long while, life was good for the three former Organization members.


	80. New Beginnings

#### Destiny Islands – High School Stadium

#### May 31, 2016

Sora smiled as he walked up to the podium and accepted his diploma. He, Riku, and Kairi had finally made it. Thanks to all their adventures fighting Xehanort and the Heartless, they'd missed a lot of school. They'd gotten caught up with most of it by the time he and Riku had taken their Mark of Mastery exam, but they were still a year behind. Now, though, they'd finally finished their senior year. They were graduating high school. Once all the students had received their diplomas, the principal said a few words, and the ceremony concluded.

Sora cheered as he threw his cap into the air along with everyone else. He weaved his way through the crowd of students walking around the field congratulating each other. He shook hands with everyone who came up to congratulate him, even though he didn't really know most of them. After a few minutes of searching, he finally found Riku and Kairi standing on the edge of the field talking with their families. In Kairi's case, this included both adopted and biological, as Ansem and Ienzo had flown all the way from Radiant Garden. Ansem was off to the side chatting with Kairi's adoptive father, the (now former) mayor, while Ienzo was giving his cousin a congratulatory hug.

Sora smiled as he forced his way out of the crowd of graduating students. His own parents quickly came up and tackled him in a big hug, accompanied by Donald, Goofy, Roxas, and Xion. Almost all their friends from all the worlds had come over to watch them graduate. Nearby, Riku was being given a similar hug by his own parents and King Mickey. Once everyone had been released from their enormous group hugs, they finally had room to breathe and congratulate each other.

Riku came up and gave Sora a quick high five before pulling him in for a congratulatory hug. Kairi just skipped the high five and went straight for the hug. Now that they didn't have to worry about school, they could finally do what they had built the raft for all those years ago. Once all the after-graduation parties were over with, the three of them were going to go out and explore the worlds without having to worry about fighting the Heartless. The sweet, romantic moment between him and Kairi was ruined when everyone decided to pile in for yet another group hug.

Everybody laughed as the entire group tried to cram into an incredibly tiny space. Once the group hug was over, they all went their separate ways. Their parents went back to their houses. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy headed back to where they'd parked their Gummi Ship to head back to Disney Town. Ansem and Ienzo did the same to head back to Radiant Garden. Meanwhile Roxas and Xion walked over to the passenger liner that would take them back to Twilight Town. Sora, Kairi, and Riku walked off through town, headed for the first off several graduation parties they'd been invited to. The parties were going to be fun, but it was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was my first big, long-term fanfiction story. In retrospect there were some things I would have done differently. Some pace things a little better in regards to the Hades/Maleficent romance, A little foreshadowing and early setup for Vanitas' redemption moment, etc. But nevertheless, I'm still statisfied with how this story turned out considering it took me almost two whole years in order to finish it. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I'll start cross-posting the sequels once I finish re-writing my Red Rising/Voltron Legendary Defender crossovers.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Xehanort War [Rewrite]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15454878) by [violethowler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/violethowler/pseuds/violethowler)




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